There was a similar situation during the pandemic in the UK, I know of individuals whose parents in the PRC were contacted by the authorities to “encourage” their kids studying abroad to stay abroad, lest they risk bringing covid back home.
Where me and others did not, I did not find these things to be "normal" either.
It all depends on where you place the freedom vs safety metric, I place on the far extreme end of freedom. Which is also why I oppose governments like China in general