These are, as they say, interesting times in China. The anti-scientific “zero Covid” policy and the resulting extreme lockdowns have made people unable to get basic necessities. In at least one case, they’ve killed people, as residents in a burning building were literally imprisoned in their apartments. This has led to mass protests at great personal risk, in a country with 1984-level mass surveillance.

The committee of the Chengdu Worldcon has said nothing. Not a word. If I’ve missed something, please correct me in the comments.
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For some time I’ve known it’s dangerous to criticize the Chinese government on some American campuses. Emerson College investigated a student group that dared to criticize the Chinese rulers and then suspended it, and as far as I can tell it has never backed away from its contemptible decree. Mark Wrighton, president of George Washington University, declared he was “personally offended” by posters criticizing China and would “undertake an effort to determine who is responsible.” He backed off when he found himself facing more publicity than he bargained for.

Fandom gets a large proportion of its new people from college students and recent graduates. If they learn there that they should shut up about China while on campus, they may carry that habit over into their fannish activities. This, I’m sure, is one reason for the lack of widespread calls to boycott the Chengdu Worldcon. But how widespread is this effect? Are Emerson and GWU outliers? Lately I’ve looked into the ways China intimidates Western educational institutions and found that varying levels of intimidation are common.
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