You're on the right track, though I don't think the welding was common. Chinese neighborhoods are under a type of lockdown where there are some 4 taxis per 10-5

You're on the right track, though I don't think the welding was common. Chinese neighborhoods are under a type of lockdown where there are some 4 taxis per 10-50k people that are designated for goods and extreme emergency cases. One of the many ways the government makes the numbers look smaller. They are playing straight out of the old Soviet playbook. Their party is literally an incarnation of the CCCP. Do not treat this country as you would a democratic first world nation - it's culture is nothing of the sort, for better or worse.