Chinese officials are racing to address fallout from a new investigation into the nonfatal lead poisoning of more than 200 schoolchildren in the western province of Gansu. After a report released Sunday cited widespread lapses in safety protocols and efforts by local figures to cover up the sprawling scandal, the incident has captivated the Chinese public and galvanized the government into action in a country still haunted by past lead poisoning crises. 

School officials at Heshi Peixin Kindergarten in Tianshui city are accused of adding lead-based industrial paint to the school's food to make it more visually appealing. And multiple provincial and hospital workers allegedly tampered with blood tests and failed to issue requisite health alerts. 

'All-too-familiar concerns'
The new report on the Tianshui poisonings is a "rare acknowledgment" from Chinese officials of a "high-level hush-up of a public scandal," said The New York Times. More than a dozen people have been detained or arrested, including the school's principal, kitchen staff and an investor, with Chinese internet users giving "keen attention to the report," said the BBC. 

The report showed "mistakes and mishandling" at almost "every level of the process and response," said The Guardian. Its release was "accompanied by reported protests by parents" outside the kindergarten. 

The mass poisonings have "raised all-too-familiar concerns" in China about food safety at large and the "levels of transparency with which such cases are handled," said CNN. It's the latest in a list of "dozens of high-profile scandals" reported across China since the early 2000s. And while lead poisoning in particular "used to be a more widespread issue," China in 2010 "allocated special funds for heavy metal pollution prevention."

Spotlight on governance
Beyond the reignition of concerns around lead-poisoning mitigation efforts, the Tianshui poisonings have also raised questions about the relationships between the various tiers of China's national, regional and local authorities. As China's "worst food safety scandal in almost two decades," the incident has "prompted fresh questions about the quality of local governance," said the South China Morning Post. 

Typically, Chinese authorities "tightly control the flow of information" in the immediate aftermath of a disaster or scandal, said the Times. While in the past, authorities have sporadically held individual companies and "low-level officials" accountable, "acknowledgment of active higher-level cover-ups is relatively rare."

For right-wing Westerners looking to escape what they deem society's moral decline, Moscow has opened up a way. Since last year, Russia has offered a "shared values" visa aimed at foreigners who reject what Russian President Vladimir Putin calls "destructive neoliberal ideology." 

Who can get it?
Citizens or residents of countries Moscow considers "opposed to Russia" — 47 in total, including most European countries, the U.S., Australia and Japan — can apply for what's informally known as the "anti-woke" visa. There are no language requirements, but applicants must demonstrate that they disagree with the policies of their country that contradict "traditional" values. The visa is usually issued for three years and can be converted into citizenship. 

Are people emigrating? 
A spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of the Interior said 1,156 people, including 224 from Germany, had applied for the shared values visa by May. About 700 people have obtained the visa so far this year, said The Washington Post. 

Among them is Derek Huffman, who moved his family from Texas to Russia earlier this year to "escape 'woke' America," said The Telegraph. The 46-year-old agreed to join the Russian military in a "noncombat capacity," but despite no experience as a soldier and "limited" Russian, he has, according to his wife, been sent "near" the front line in Ukraine. 

What does Russia get out of it?
This is "symbolic politics," Katharina Bluhm, the head of the Institute for East European Studies at the Freie Universitat Berlin, said to DW. Russia uses the positive stories of Western immigrants to show its citizens that Russians "fulfill what they miss in the decadent West." And the message to the West is that Russians "represent the better Europe, the Europe of patriotism and traditional values and gender roles that no longer exists elsewhere." 

But the true explanation for the visa is a "ruthless economic logic," said UnHerd. Russia's demographics are "terrible." Its fertility rate is far lower than the replacement rate, and the war in Ukraine has led to high casualties and emigration, leaving the country in need of skilled migrants. For Russia, this is "strictly business."