Shanghai takes the lead in implementing a “traffic safety code” for food delivery riders nationwide, where only those with a “green code” are allowed to accept orders, while those with a “red code” are placed on a blacklist. This measure immediately led netizens to draw parallels with the Chinese Communist Party’s control measures during the terrifying three years of the epidemic, when authorities introduced a “health code” to regulate people’s movements.
On July 3rd, according to a report by the Chinese media outlet “Xinmin Evening News,” the Shanghai Public Security Traffic Management Department has introduced a “safety code” for food delivery riders. The full name of the “safety code” is “traffic safety code,” using “green, yellow, red” as safety level indicators directly related to professional qualifications. New riders must possess a “green code” to work; those deemed as “repeat offenders” holding a “red code” will be included in a blacklist for the entire industry, requiring their platform companies to suspend their order-receiving qualifications.
The report mentions that by using the three-color “safety code” to mark riders’ traffic safety levels, all data on express delivery riders, vehicles, companies, and related traffic violations and accidents across the city are gathered into a “system,” where logical relations and model development are carried out for precise governance.
Since the implementation of the “safety code” in April this year, over 420 “problematic” riders have reportedly been included in the industry’s “restriction list.”
Regarding this, Chinese netizens have had various discussions, with some expressing support: “Nowadays, you can see food delivery guys driving while taking orders, running red lights, making U-turns anywhere, jaywalking. This method is good, forcing them to comply with traffic rules.”
However, some netizens criticize the measure, calling it “blatant discrimination against grassroots laborers.” “Is this illegal? This is prejudicial discrimination against food delivery personnel. Why not implement traffic safety codes for all of Shanghai?”
Many netizens draw parallels to the terror of the three-year epidemic control period.
Overseas, there are also discussions among netizens about Shanghai’s practices:
“This is electronic centralization.”
“Everything is coming back.”
“The health code is like ‘mobile shackles,’ very successful during the COVID-19 pandemic, with significant management effects. It is now being officially implemented across various industries.”
“In a few years, it will likely be extended to the whole society, where green and red codes will be equivalent to the past classifications of “Five Red Categories” and “Five Black Categories.”
“This is just like the health code during the epidemic. Electronic shackles, giving you a red code just because they want to. Do you remember village bank depositors? Do you remember the neighborhood watchmen? Let’s recall those.”
Some netizens believe that although this safety code is implemented under the guise of traffic safety, there is a possibility that in the future, it could be used to assign red codes to riders involved in labor disputes or rights protests against companies. From assigning codes to power banks to assigning them to food delivery workers, the normalization of the “health code” issue that the public was concerned about during the epidemic period is gradually becoming a reality across industries.
During the three years of the Chinese Communist virus (COVID-19) epidemic control period, the Chinese regime introduced physical tools – health codes and grid workers. Everyone is trapped in the digital prison constructed by health codes, travel codes, nucleic acid testing, and vaccines.
Before the authorities had to abandon the closure policy due to public outrage, in November 2022, the Chinese National Health Commission announced in a document that by 2025, everyone in mainland China will have a “dynamic management electronic health file and a fully functional electronic health code.” This indicates that health codes could be used at any time. The grid workers who controlled during the closure have now transformed into community workers, with a newly formed Social Work Department extending its influence from Beijing to the entire country in a role of “authoritarian patch.”
Indications show that after the removal of the closure in mainland China, the health code continues to be used with a different visage. For instance, in July 2023, Shanghai officials claimed to be accelerating the upgrade of the “Suishen Code” (Shanghai is known as ‘Shencheng,’ and its health code is called the “Suishen Code”) to the “City Code,” creating a comprehensive urban service and governance system featuring “one person, one code, one company, one code, one item, one code.”