Xi Loosens Up. It Won’t Be Enough.

Xi Jinping may be the most powerful autocrat in the world, but he was forced this week to pirouette to meet the demands of ordinary Chinese fed up with his failed “zero Covid” strategy.

Throngs of ordinary Chinese — “old hundred names” in Chinese parlance — took to the streets to express frustration with China’s repressive Covid lockdowns and, implicitly, with China’s overall repression. Many held up blank sheets of paper, signifying that they could not say what they wanted.

Xi read those blank sheets of paper, though. Police detained many protesters...