Seeing Chinese authorities exercise extraordinary powers during a stringent COVID-19 lockdown in Shanghai earlier this year altered Claire Jiang's life plans: she no longer wants to have babies in China.

During the April-May lockdown, the hashtag "we are the last generation" briefly went viral on Chinese social media before being censored.

The phrase echoed the response of a man who was visited by authorities in hazmat suits threatening to punish his family for three generations for noncompliance with COVID-19 rules.