Millions of Chinese suffering the dreaded lockdowns have turned to Hindi cinema legend Bappi Lahiri’s superhit song “Jimmy Jimmy Aaja Aaja” from 1982 movie “Disco Dancer” to express their anger and frustration over the country’s stringent zero-COVID policy.
In the Chinese social media networks Douyin – the Chinese name for TikTok, the song composed by Lahiri and sung by Parvati Khan is sung in Mandarin “Jie mi, jie mi”, which translates into “Give me rice, give me rice”, by people in the videos mockingly showing empty vessels to show how they are deprived of essential food items during the lockdowns.
China has been bogged down with zero-COVID policy under which dozens of cities, including Shanghai which has a population over 25 million, were under lockdown for weeks with people confined to their flats.
