In China you can't buy fuel, live in a hotel, ride a train or make a purchase from a store unless you show your ID.
Others cried about privacy.
I thought : well if I have nothing to hide, then...
And then this coronavirus struck. Right now anyone from Hubei, the large area where the virus is spreading, tries to find a shelter somewhere out of his region, he is out of luck.
No gas station will sell him gas, no hotel will allow him in, no ride, no food once they see his Hubei ID. He is untouchable. He doesn't need to have lived in Hubei, just because he is carrying an id is enough of a reason to deny him service.
He is like a fugitive in his own country and the only way he can be accepted and be at home, is by returning to Hubei.
Which is why we need : Privacy.