China’s state media is struggling and censors are working overtime as Beijing gropes for a coherent narrative in the wake of the sudden reversal of its hallmark zero-COVID policy. For years, the country’s propaganda apparatus hailed zero-COVID as proof of the superiority of the Communist Party’s authoritarian rule and the wisdom of powerful President Xi Jinping. But now its usual mouthpieces have been left to spin the decision to scrap strict travel curbs, quarantines, and snap lockdowns as a victory even as cases soar. “State media has not come up with a grand narrative to fully legitimize the sudden and…