UPDATE FROM SHANGHAI UNDER LOCKDOWN
Pandemic Diaries #14 ；Shanghai Lockdown Day #24
Dear friends,
I just realized it’s been a year since I last wrote to you. Whoever I am here, now, I feel faraway from who I had been a year ago.
I am writing this at 11 PM on a Saturday night, as my neighborhood awaits to be called for our 12th Covid test of lockdown. It is DAY #24 since we have been trapped at home.
It’s been a while since I last wrote in English, and my sense of self before Shanghai feels faraway. I miss everyone a lot, I miss the conversations, the poems, I miss the vibrant sense of possibility as we waited for the ever-delayed subway. I wish I was better at keeping in touch with you. April last year was a really difficult time, and that was when I stopped reading and writing much—adrift, far from my body. Next time, I will write more about what I’ve been up to….
SHANGHAI IN LOCKDOWN DAY #9
Now I need to share with you what I have witnessed in Shanghai recently. This is the first time in a long time I have had the chance to write and process things for myself. I wouldn’t believe it all if I didn’t experience this firsthand.
Reality gets more surreal each day. After a year’s hiatus, I can’t believe I am back to writing more pandemic diaries.
Everyday on Wechat, the main communication tool here, we greet each other by:
“Do you have enough food today? Do you need anything?”
My friend J who just moved before lockdown doesn’t have any oil or pots yet, and she tells me she has a box of take out she got before lockdown, and she eats a tiny portion of it everyday.
Above are text message exchange between my friend and her uncle, who said “your aunt and I haven’t had meat in three days, I was 90 kg now I am not even 84 kg, I have lost 12 grams. (~ 13 lb)”
Today marks the 24th day that my compound in the district of Minhang has been in lockdown, 13 days since half of the city (Pudong) has been locked down— Shanghai is split in two by a river— and 9 days since the whole of Shanghai.
Shanghai-ers are starving in 2022 due to this man-made situation. The government decided to lockdown a city of 24.89 MILLION--the most populous city in the world-- halting all deliveries and postal services. Their goal? To continue the 2020 policy since COVID first emerged: ZERO COVID (清零）。
People are starving because there wasn’t enough notice for the lockdown; more importantly, the lockdown was only supposed to last for 4 DAYS. Going in, we were warned against panic-hoarding, so mentally and physically, people only prepared for 4 days at home. There was also supposed to be government rations delivered.
Now, What is the ZERO COVID policy reminiscent of?
In 1958, Mao Zedong ordered all sparrows to be killed as a part of the “four pests campaign.” It is one of the policies to inaugurate the Great Leap Forward, a series of social and economic campaigns to remake the agrarian economy into a communist society.
The sparrow killing campaign led to an ecological imbalance (surprise!) and is one of the factors that led to the three years of famine, one of the deadliest man-made disasters in human history.
An estimated 15 - 55 million people starved to death. Liu Shaoqi, the second Chairman of the PRC, formally attributed 30% of the famine to natural disasters and 70% to man-made errors ("三分天灾, 七分人祸").
Starvation as a direct result of bad government policy is nothing new.
Now, because all out of town postal service is halted, it is near impossible to get fresh food.
On April 5th, the city announced the FINAL BATTLE: to test ALL of Shanghai in a single day. Medical workers and the army were flown in overnight from nearby provinces; loud speakers in neighborhoods started calling people to nucleic acid testing at 5 AM.
In theory, all those who tested positive would be shipped immediately to a temporary hospital to be secluded. Temporary hospitals are being built in a rush to hold a total estimated capacity of 100,000 people.
Yet, that is not enough for the highly infectious Omicron, with 20,000 new positive cases each day.
The official stance is still “ZERO COVID”; other previously Zero Covid places like HongKong and Singapore have switched to a living with Covid policy, as Omicron is highly infectious yet not so deadly for the vaccinated.
As lockdown drags on with still no ending in sight, here are some updates on how it has affected ordinary folks here:
1. HOLES IN THE SYSTEM
##THE HOMELESS
The streets of Shanghai are deserted. People are being tested and monitored as “units” within our homes— but the homeless, including wanderers, non-residents, those who have traveled to Shanghai to receive medical treatment etc…are left with nowhere to go.
The state are masters at monitoring people by unit and residency— when we do a COVID test, the system automatically updates our virtual health code. So what about those who do not have an officially registered place of residence?
There is a woman living out of a phone booth, an elderly man who came to the city for treatment but can’t afford to stay in a hotel or hospital… all shops, supermarkets are mandated to close, where can they get food or shelter?
There are the migrant workers who share an apartment, who may not be officially registered as residents — the government rations will not be enough, especially the fact that the rations have not arrived as promised.
Each ration, supposed to last a week, includes some vegetables, enough for two or three meals at most. Here, wealth disparity between districts is more obvious than ever:
Rich areas gave out rations like this:
Others, this:
Many who are starving want to test positive in order to be taken to the temporary hospital, where at least you are guaranteed access to food.
##抢菜 / FIGHT FOR FRESH VEGGIE
In order to get fresh vegetables these days, Shanghaiers are setting alarm clocks according to the time various apps update their stocks. Delivery services are very immediate and developed here — usually one can get fresh food delivered from various platforms within an hour at all times of the day.
Now, with limited delivery workers available, limited supplies coming in from outside of the city, and a high demand for food, people have began fighting every morning to see who might get lucky accessing the platforms. It’s wilder than fighting for concert tickets. And vegetables are more than 10 x the usual price.
A rap made about it repeats the phrases “Let’s all fight for fresh vegetables, then go get our nucleic acid tests!”
Anxiety levels are through the roof. I witnessed friends having breakdowns when their apps kept failing days in a row as their fridges & stomachs emptied, all while still attempting to work from home.
AND SO ##THE JOKES: VEGGIES = LUXURY
Shanghaiers take pride in living a “tasteful” lifestyle no matter one’s income. This means being the city with the most coffeeshops in the world— coffee being the epitome of taste in a historically tea drinking country.
Fresh vegetables are now commonly referred to as luxury — or shorthand, by luxury brands names. Especially since they are 10 x the price. Most stores don’t even allow you to choose your vegetables — you purchase by “blind boxes” (盲盒）and see what vegetables show up at your door.
A note about the urban Chinese diet is that young people mostly rely on takeout, and for those who cook at home, fresh meat and veggies make up the majority of one’s diet; people rarely eat processed or frozen foods, so that is usually not in stock; food go bad extremely quickly.
## OTHER MEDICAL CONDITIONS LEFT UNTREATED
Only those with 24 hr positive test results can go to the emergency room or access hospitals.
With the city on lockdown, only those who applied to special permits, and private cars, can make their way to the hospital. Imagine all the scheduled surgeries, appointments, emergencies that are missed. Many hospitals are still shut down due to COVID cases in the staff.
People from all over the country come to Shanghai to seek medical treatment. All illnesses other than COVID are no longer relevant.
##ELDERLY LIVING ALONE WITHOUT SMARTPHONES
Yesterday, my grandpa told me he only has one week of food left. Don’t worry, he says, I will figure it out. I feel so helpless, trapped in my apartment, on the other side of town, there’s no way for me to reach him, to share some of my food.
If young people have to invent plug-ins in order to help them fight for veggies, how will the elderly who are living alone?
##COVID-POSITIVE CHILDREN SEPARATED FROM PARENTS
One of the biggest sources of anger for netizens online was the revelation that children as young as a few months old have been separated from any adult guardianship to be shipped to temporary hospitals.
The conditions at these hospitals are sickening and difficult even for an adult, with a few toilets for hundreds of people, and no privacy. The lights are on 24 hrs.
There are posts online of parents desperately trying to test positive in order to be taken away with their children— many too young to know how to use a phone to keep in contact with their families; too young to use the toilet; too young to eat or to tell the world what they have been through.
The French embassy issued a statement that children less than 7 years old should not be taken away to be isolated alone.
But the government does not admit to any wrongdoings. On 4/4, the gov issued a statement saying children will be separated if parents are not positive. Those younger than seven years old will be sent to a children’s ward in JinShan.
2. DOUBTING THE STATE
Above is a screenshot from the government cracking down on “rumors.” On 3/22, Shanghai police posted “Do not hoard food. Do not believe rumors that the city will be locked down for 7 days. Do not believe or spread falsities.”
The reply from one user on 4/9: Let’s return to 3/22, if you listened, you did not hoard food; if you did not listen— you hoarded. So Shanghai citizens, do you think you are living better having listened to the government or not?
##CORRUPTION OF RATIONS
While most area have not received enough government food rations to reasonably live out lockdown, some areas have not received any rations at all.
The one most widely circulated is the area of Bao Shan, a far-flung area of Shanghai. While residents have not received any rations, people in other areas have reportedly found out the food they purchased online have turned up with Bao Shan rations stickers…
Now that vegetables are marked up 10x the price,
##NEIGHBORS / COMMUNAL EFFORTS/ BARTER ECONOMY
The grand governmental discord and total systemic collapse pushed us to rely on and help our neighbors.
Almost everyone I know in Shanghai are surviving due to neighborhood communities banding together to help each other, organizing quickly and efficiently online through Wechat groups — establishing community codes and guidelines — and getting help to those who need it.
People are helping each other in medical emergencies now that ambulances take days to arrive. There is a thriving trade economy. Diapers, milk for new borns, medicine for the elderly.
I am quarantining in the house I grew up in, and I’ve never known so many of my neighbors. My onions for your potatoes, grapes for your bananas. The other day I swapped some coffee beans for sanitary napkins.
Because there is almost no way to get food individually delivered, most platforms have started delivering only bulk orders: “团购”. Which means orders of quantity above 50 or 100 get delivered, and communities are left up to themselves to see if they can garner up a group to split each order.
Now, the joke is, the most respected member of each group chat are the “bulk order leaders,” which also happens to sound like “general.”
Of course, all this relies on volunteers. People have stepped up to make communal spreadsheets, to collect money, and most importantly, to distribute the food to each household once it arrives outside of the gate.
##COLLECTIVE ROILING ONLINE RESENTMENT
I have never seen so many posts go viral on Wechat before (like a facebook feed). Cries for help are reposted by quickly and collectively, igniting like wildfire.
People re-post immediately because it will, inevitably, be taken down by the censors, soon. Re-posts, shares and screenshots are the only ways against erasure.
3. DISTRUST OF THE MEDIA
##ALL IS GOOD & WELL IN THE NEWS
CCTV reports all is good and well in Shanghai. Government rations are plentiful. People can order food online.
A reporter boldly stood up to the official press conference yesterday: he challenged the leaders to take out their phones and try ordering vegetables.
## CIVIL DISCONTENT
I’ve never sensed such mass discontent online. My feed is filled with negative critiques of the system, in a way I never would have dared imagine before.
My friend’s father, who was a hardcore Xi-fan before lockdown, has turned to cursing him out everyday.
##PETS MURDERED
A viral post shows a corgi being beaten to death by a medical worker when the owner tested positive and was taken away. Pet owners are extremely worried about what might happen to their pets if they test positive and are taken to the temporary hospitals.
As always, we can only rely on each other. There are numerous posts on my feed everyday of people (at temporary hospitals) asking neighbors to check in on their pets. There are communities creating back-up plans for each other’s pets. Who might be able to step in given the lock down situation to take care of your dog, before the gov gets to them?
##BLACKMARKET FOR TRAVEL PASSES
The government issued travel passes for those with medical emergencies or to delivery workers, medical workers etc., the effect, of course, is a lucrative black market for such passes.
Rumors are, a to cost 1000RMB (~157USD). The pass was in such high demand – and high transaction that there was a traffic jam in the supposedly locked down Shanghai a few days ago. The government quickly clamped down and now the streets are deadly quiet again.
& WE ARE HERE, AS ALWAYS, WITH GRIEF
The rate of death for Omicron is very low. April 4th is the traditional day of mourning for the dead. This year, no tombs in Shanghai were swept, no oranges peeled for the alter, no paper money set aflame.
But who knows how many have died/ will die due to the lack of this man-made disaster? How many go hungry, how many medical emergencies untreated?
A former doctor, died from asthma after being denied from the hospital due to his positive test.
A nurse died from asthma – blocked from the gates of her very own hospital because she did not have a recent enough (24 hr) nucleic acid test.
One father whose son fell and fainted last week got into the car and drove to the gate. The guards and community workers did not allow the car to leave without a valid travel pass. My son is in serious danger. If you don’t let me leave, his life is on your hands, he said.
A netizen posted:
“我们知道他们在瞎搞，他们也知道他们在瞎搞，他们知道我们知道他们在瞎搞，我们也知道他们知道我们知道他们在瞎搞，但是他们依然在瞎搞。”
“We all know they are bullshitting, they know they are bullshitting, they know we know they are bullshitting, we also know they know we know they are bullshitting, and yet they are still bullshitting.”
I started writing this post on Saturday, and have finally found the peace of mind to finish writing this on Tuesday, midnight again. The news truly becomes more absurd everyday and I spend most of my days scrolling through an onslaught of memes (I really think the great gift of Chinese people is that we can find humor in any situation), of cries for help, of speculations on when lockdown will end, of the numerous vegetable ordering groups. I keep adding and adding to this post.
There is still so much to say, to record, to share with you— especially at the speed of which things are erased online here on the Chinese cyberspace.
So for the remainder of lockdown, I will be collecting and sharing news from Shanghai — the absurd, the unbelievable, the unjust and angering, on here and on Twitter. Once a day, I will share a round-up.
Thank you as always for following along! I miss you dearly.
love from Shanghai,
JinJin
* correction: mistranslated the chinese unit for 斤（half a kilo) as grams-- the uncle in fact lost 6 kg, which is around 13 lbs.
Jin Jon, your big heart is always present. Look forward to seeing you sometime soon. Xoxo