Viral Updates from Xi'an: An essay in pictures and videos

Dave with our "exit coupon"

Andres Gide writes in The Counterfeiters: “One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight, for a very long time, of the shore.”

Well, ain't that the truth?! Many of you are asking how we're doing. The short answer is fine, although it has been awhile since we've "seen the shore." This feels like a good time to give you an essay in pictures of what life, in a semi-totalitarian state under corona virus, looks like.

First, What is daily life like?

On one hand, I feel extraordinary safe. There is no way the government wants anything to spread beyond Wuhan. And in China, if the government doesn't want something to happen, it doesn't happen. China is all about saving face, and dead ex-pats are the last thing they need or want.

Officials with armbands taking our
"Exit Coupons"

As a result, we (and everyone else) is on virtual house arrest. We have exit coupons. One person in each household is allowed to leave the compound once, every other day.

Here is the formidable Gate:
All decorated -- forlornly --with
Lunar New Year lanterns!

That is a fascinating rule that we puzzle over each time one of us goes out. Hypothetical #1: I go out, catch the virus, come back. Dave gets sick. OR Hypothetical #2 We both go out, catch (or don't catch) the virus, and come back sick... So how exactly does this keep us safe?

I think the answer is that it shows everyone is doing his and her own part. We all know that masks do little to prevent the disease, but to not wear one is unpatriotic. In addition, these rules help demonstrate the control that can be exerted. Local officials, specifically, and the Chinese government, in general, need to show their people and the world at large that they've got everything under control. There undoubtedly is a lot of politics going on behind the scenes. We meanwhile dutifully take our "exit coupon" and shopping lists and leave the compound -- one of us -- every other day.

The Great Hand-off over the gate

As a result, at the compound gate, families stand, waiting for the one lucky person who went out into the city to buy goods to bring back their stash. There is a continual "Hand-off"; Someone on the outside hands packages, over the fence, to a person on the inside. For example, when Dave goes out he takes the cart. I wait at the gate inside. He brings the fruit and water that can be obtained from one of the local street markets back in the cart. We hand cart/food/water over the gate. I take the food and water back to the apartment. I then bring empty cart back to Dave, who has been waiting on the outside. He then takes the cart to the actual shopping center, which is about 1 mile away. He comes back; we have spent a good two hours, getting provisions.

It is easier for the native Chinese. They have a means to order goods on-line. Below, you'll see a dude, through the gate, who is organizing the packages that are arriving through Taobao or Baidu (Chinese Amazon). He brings them using a motorized tuktuk-type thing. He lays the packages out and then calls on the phone a recipient in the compound. The person comes to this gate, and the hand-off is complete!

Look closely, and you'll see how
most Chinese get their goods:
Taobao or Baidu, which is the Chinese
equivalent to Amazon.

Another Hand-off

Packages waiting for their owners

Tuk-Tuk delivery cart

The ubiquitous temperature takers
at the grocery store

Besides that, we constantly are having our temperature taken, filling out forms, producing our work papers. And yet the numbers in our province continue to be infinitesimal— one death in a province of 33.3 million

This YouTube video, compiled by a bored ExPat gives you as sense of what it is like when you go to a market in downtown Xi'an

https://youtu.be/4LKv-j9jkeQ

* * *

Next: How we get our Information

Our WeChat accounts (sort of like Facebook) help provide information. There are ex-pat groups that are rife with rumors. We also have access to the NYT and public radio. China also has added have a special section in WeChat called “health” that updates everything worldwide. Can we trust them? I would say yes. Their numbers match the numbers that we see in news sources in the US. While it is very hard to get accurate numbers when you are in the middle of an epidemic -- especially when the disease looks like the flu and cold -- I think everyone now is trying to keep an accurate count.

A Typical Daily update from one of our Expat sites

These are the typical updates we get

And more information shared through
WeChat

We also get feel-good notices in our WeChat account. This was shared to our ExPat site, and I then shared it to my "Moments" in WeChat. It very accurately reflects the way I feel. My students all loved it. Lot's of "💗" There is a lot of sense that China is being portrayed unfairly in the media -- particularly the US media. There has been some accusations of anti-Chinese bias. Thus, messages like this are well-received.

"Add Oil" is a Chinese phrase that means: Let's show support!

Here is another "feel-good" post on WeChat: a way to share-the-love by helping people get masks. I'm told are in short supply, although we have had no problem getting them because friends have been providing them to us.

There are even suggestions on how to make money while under lock down. Some ExPats work at the Training Schools -- which are for-profit schools offered to students who weren't accepted at a good university, or want more training in English to do well on the National Exams. The training schools are notoriously sketchy in their treatment of ExPats. Some haven't been paid since lock down started. This isn't an issue for Jiaotong, where Dave and I work. They have been very good and supportive of us.

So, the short answer to those who ask, Have things changed for you? The short answer is, Yes. Things have definitely changed. Here is another video that shows the contrast between Xi'an at the Bell Tower, last fall and Xi'an now:

https://youtu.be/FBKoeRYu8Hk

* * *

Finally, a few Words, and more pictures....

So what does the future bring? We just got word that Xi’an has opened all of its tourist sites. In addition, 6 districts in Xi’an have lifted their quarantine. Sadly ours isn’t among them, but we’re hopeful.

We see more stores opening us, each time one of us goes out. We mostly shop at Walmart, which sells everything, including chocolate and wine. And we usually get our 10,000 steps walking around our compound, which is really a neighborhood rather than a building. Kids are out playing badminton. Older folks congregate for Majong.

Child exercising with her mom

In addition, all of the graphs show that the virus is leveling off every where, including Wuhan. We’re hoping the isolation will open up a bit. Spring is springing in Xi’an! Temp is 60-70 degrees. Sun sets at about 6:30! We’re hoping things will return to normal soon! Because, after all.... “One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight, for a very long time, of the shore.”