Crossed the bridge: What is China like post-Corona?

Several of you have asked us for updates on life in China with the virus.  I’ve resisted because I didn’t want this blog to be about some crazy virus that has upended the world --   especially given the fact that neither Dave nor I are experts in this.  However, looking from a distance at what’s going on in the US, I often wonder why our experience was so different from my friends and colleagues in the US.  So, I’ll share, if you find it useful.  I also hope that this post will offer some sense that you can get through this.  Although my title suggests we’ve “crossed a bridge” and we are “post-corona,” there are still things that have irreparably have changed.  I suspect the same will be true for you all in the US.

First, how are things now? 
In our area, cases have dropped off significantly.  8 new cases in the past three weeks; none where we live.  As a result we are seeing a lot of relaxed rules.  No temperature taken at our compound, and when we pulled out our identity QR code (which we now need to go everywhere), the guard said “zhidau-le, zhidau-le” (I know, I know.)  Restaurants have opened. But you can’t have more than a few people at each table.  And the tables are widely spaced out to prevent contamination. 

Everyone still wears a mask. Our department recently dropped off two large packets for Dave and me, so I suspect that policy will continue. 

The streets are back to normal – crazy driving, lots of horns for no particularly good reason, electric mopeds on the sidewalks,  make-shift markets selling noodles out of car trunks, everywhere.   You can once again smell chili and oil in the air.  As we walk down our market street, one of the restaurants has a waiter who practices trumpet while he waits for customers.  Hearing him play, smelling garlic and oil, cheerfully nodding “Ni Hao” to our fruit sellers: it feels almost normal.

Also our parks have reopen.  The national sites all are offering a limited number free tickets to the residents of Xi’an for having made it through the difficult times.  While parks still limit the of people who can enter, but it is wonderful to get out into Qingxing park near our house and see Spring springing!

 So, why are things so different in China and the US? 
I have a lot of theories. None of them are particularly well-tested.  The first is:  We are Americans in China. We have a limited language capability. I think that this worked in our favor.   We didn’t get the minute-by-minute briefings: Do this, no do this, no try this, no, not that, do this.  As I watch the governors’ and presidential briefings from a distance, I have more anxiety and panic watching than I ever did while we were living in the moment.

 Don't get me wrong:  In China, policies would change – you could leave the compound yesterday… oops no you can’t today. You and your husband can shop… oops, no you can’t you now need coupons.  But, we didn’t hear the experts behind the scenes working this all out in real time.   The result felt more seamless.  I’m sure it wasn’t!  But there is such thing as too much information.  As a corollary to this, it also brought a sense of trust.  When things changed, we could look at our virus tracker and see why they changed.  There was a congruence between the information that we were receiving and the policies enacted because of these changes.

 I therefore recommend to everyone in the US occasionally to pretend you’re in China.  Pretend that you can’t speak the language.  Pretend that the daily briefings are unintelligible.  Much of the information that is being given is stuff that you really can’t do anything about. Instead, listen to classical music.  I think that will give you a better sense of what our mindset was like as we made our way through the crisis.

When we were in the middle of it, we thought it would never end... but it did.    I think the news makes it worse.  This is also a good time to read those books that you never got a chance to read— Geraldine Brooks is great.  I just started Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries—a notable NYT book.  It’s about the gold rush in New Zealand in the 19th century and also has some about the Opium wars in China that I’ve been learning more about over the year.   So, leaving this world to read about the past has done us a world of good and allowed us to escape.

When will this end?

That is a question that I get asked a lot from friends in the US.  My answer is the same as those in high places:  I don’t know.  We started our “shelter in place” at the end of January.  By mid-March, things started loosening up.   I think that China's  Middle School will open next week, and High School starts in 2 weeks. 

University classes however are a different story.  Jiaotong University is still closed.  We can enter the campus with our work card, but it is very much of a ghost town. 

I’m not surprised.  Our University is a school that has students from all over China, as well as the world.   It’s a “live-on-campus” university with 4-6 students to a room.  One case from a distant province could re-start the chain.  Classes end mid-June and then there is a short summer session that may or may not happen.  We’re still on-line. 

Outside hand-washing station

That being said, we were walking through campus, last week and saw workmen erecting outdoor hand-washing stations all over campus... which might mean students will return.  We’ll see.

Are there policies that are different in China vs. the US? 

One thing that is glaringly obvious, in terms of politics, is the distrust and politics in the US.  This is ironic, right? One would expect that a population would be less trustful of a Totalitarian state than a Democratic government, right?  But, after some missteps in Wuhan, I really feel as though the Chinese government has gone overboard showing how it has “got this crisis.”  This demonstration of show actually goes a long way in reassuring everyone. While some of the measures that they have implemented would not be allowed in the US, some policies do get you to start to think about what the perfect balance is between personal liberties and collective good.  I don’t have an answer, but here are some of the measures and missteps that China took.

Early on, the numbers in China were not clearly reported.  There has been a lot made of that in the Western media.  The reasons are many.  There weren’t good tests then… just as there don’t seem to be good, or enough tests in the US now.  It was a brand-new disease, and so it took time to figure out what exactly it is.  As a result, there was inadvertent spread.   I also suspect that some of the confusing numbers were because a Hebei office didn’t want to look like it screwed up.  Some doctors called out the government, raising issues regarding the crisis.  One famously ended up dying from the virus. 

At that point there here was an outcry from the Wuhan community against the bureaucracy, and the government stepped forward to turn the distrust into trust. Bureaucrats in Wuhan were dismissed for not being open and covering up. Various tracking devices suddenly appeared on our phones in our WeChat account showing us exactly how many people were dying, what the exponential graph looked like, and why we needed to stay in to flatten the curve.   They also erected a video cameras that were on our WeChat feed, showing the government building two brand new pneumonia hospitals in Wuhan that would be completed in two weeks. The message was:  while the current hospital capacity isn't enough, we will be ready at the peak. The cameras were there to reassure the public, and ensure that the workers completed the job. I remember being completely puzzled – what the hell is going on? Two hospitals in two weeks… but low-and-behold, the hospitals were completed, and the public felt reassured that the government was on it. 

In addition, the government made a show of how food was plentiful and available. There was no traffic on the roads -- no cars, no motor-bikes -- but the food delivery trucks were every where.  In the beginning, the vegetables looked well picked over, but there were always boxes nearby, with people unloading boxes of food.  This soothed the food-distribution centers, people didn't hoard, and there wasn't the empty shelves that are seen in America. (I don't know exactly how this happened, but it would be worth learning something from whomever coordinated this response!)

Should they have had better testing so they had better numbers?  I don’t know.  I’ve seen lots of criticism of China, but the US has had 3 months to prepare and can’t seem to get their tests or numbers together.  I don’t think that I can fault China for that.  Should they have not criticized the doctor?  Probably, although the US government isn’t doing a great job supporting their medical personnel, supporting reports from the CDC, their doctors or their  scientists.  It is not unusual to see doctors' advice dismissed in social media and in some news reports.  So – CCCP vs USA?  The jury for me is still out.

Since then, China has done what it does best: track and compile. 

You can’t get off a plane in China without a full health check and temperature-taking.  Everyone entering the country gets 14 day’s quarantine in a hotel.  They bring food to you.  Doctors check you twice a day.  Only two family members are allowed in each hotel room.   Compare that to the US: A friend just went through San Francisco airport, after having spent time in Indonesia, and there was nothing—no temperature taking, no questions asked about activities... nothing.  I repeat:  China won’t let you off the plane without a temp taken of everyone. (People are missing connecting flights because of it.)

Every Thursday we get together with the Ex-Pat teacher's group for dinner and to take a break.  There used to be about 15 of us.  We’re down to 3:  Dave, me and a British teacher. The others left when things were bad and are now trying to get back.  It however is impossible to return.  One, from Brazil, has to run his online classes from Brazil.  This means waking up at 2am and teaching for 2 hours.  All of their belongings, books, etc. are in their apartment.  It doesn’t look like they will be able to access their stuff anytime soon

City QR code

We also still have our temps taken everywhere—going into shops and restaurants as well as accessing  our apartment.  It’s  a clearly prescribed ritual:  they take our temperature and check a city-issued QR code that tells them everywhere we’ve been in the last two months.  It tracks sick people, so if we are near someone sick, the band at the top of the screen turns yellow.  If we’ve had it, the band turns red until we are fully recovered.   So, in other words, there is no one in the store who has a fever or had been near anyone who tested positive.

On top of that, the national government has just introduced a second app that is linked to our passport, and verifies if we've left the country during the epidemic, and if we have completed the requisite 14-day  quarantine in a hotel.  In the US, my understanding is there still aren't  enough tests, and so no one knows who has been or is sick.  China’s “big brother” system is perfectly suited for this sort of disease.  They know where you’ve been and so can quickly figure out who may have been contaminated.  (I don’t know what HIPPA would do with this, but I compare it to the US, where crowds are storming the Toilet Paper Barricades in Cosco and am hard-pressed to say that the US way is better.)

National QR code

Sadly, we are starting to see some anti-foreigner hostilities. It seems that this is a primal urge in humans – whether you’re in the US or China—to fear the weiguoren (literally, the outside person).  When Dave and I returned from a dinner at the Big Goose Pagoda, we produced our green QR code that said we had had no contact with the disease and our national pass.   Still we were singled out.  We needed to show our passport (which has no outside stamps), fill out additional forms, and then wait for the boss-man to come and scrutinize us.  Some have seen signs like these in various markets.   

Dave and I have not encountered any outright hostility.  We both feel love and support from our neighborhood and our school.  The Chinese teachers have been collecting boxes of masks to send to the foreign teachers who are stuck outside of the country to keep them safe.  I’ve also spoken to several Chinese teachers who have kids in the US and are worried for their safety, given the anti-Asian hostilities that have been reported from over there.

So, yes, although things are getting better, some things have changed.

So, to return to the question that I am frequently asked:  When will this end?

I honestly don’t know.  I hope soon. I hope that when it is over, we can come together as nations and learn something from each other.  I hope that one thing that we’ll learn is that politics suck when you’re running a pandemic – whether you’re in the US or China.   I hope that will have more mutual respect for the way both of us carried this endeavor out.  I also hope that there will be unicorns, fairies, and a healthy dose of magic love dust….

                                                                *               *              *

On the bright side, classes are going well.  It is good to have the students’ undivided attention—no class-skipping or homework-missing—(that is a total Chinese construction there!)   I just started teaching Landscape Literature.  My students are reading about how specific and unique description can enhance a poem and make it come alive.  For homework, I asked students to write a poem about what they are seeing outside their windows, or to find a contemporary picture and create the landscape of the photo in a poem.   Here are a few that capture China’s “post”-pandemic life…

Looking from my window

Looking from my window at the popular park

People enjoyed each day,

It feels  like it is abandoned for so long

Not a human soul seen

Not a bird song heard

But trees and grasses have put on their green garment

Colorful flowers in full blossoms

Lakes in tranquility

Everything is enveloped in silence

Yet looks harmonious.

Is this good or not?

That is a question to be answered.

In front of me,

A man is staring at the lake

Lost in the ocean of his thoughts

Maybe he is thinking

About several months ago,

We lived in clamor,

loved to be one of the crowd

surrounded by boisterousness.

But during this epidemic outbreak,

Being confined to our homes:

Have we finally reflected on our relationship with nature?

Have we tasted the distinctive flavor of loneliness,

Of getting along with ourselves?

Now we are free again

What kind of life should we choose to live?

                                           --Andrea

When the world is ending

If the world was ending

You would come over

Though without the protection

You would still by my side.

The sky would be falling

But you would hold me tight

Calm me from the disaster.

Pungent smell of disinfectant,

Indentation marks of the protective mask

Protective clothing that makes it difficult to move

We owe you so much.

Please stay strong and healthy.

Believe in humans.

Cling to us.

              --Mia

Belief

Time is still ticking, except for those who died.

People are still breathing, but wearing masks.

Cherry trees bloom,, though few can see them.

The planet still rotates, but doesn’t seem whole.

Birds no longer sing,

Cinemas are no longer open,

The only thing continuing,

Is that the death toll rising, and the leaders mutually blaming.

Meanwhile, in Israel,

by the side of an ambulance

of national emergency medical services department,

a Jew prays to Jerusalem and a Muslim prays for Mecca.

The treasure of life and love have nothing to do with faith,

Please make me a channel of your peace.

                                           --Emma

Chinese on the wall says: God so loved the World

People Love the World

This holiday was a humid box

without timeline or exit,

made of boiling trifles,

llke counting sesame seeds

Silence is the background music of 2020.

Protective goggles can't cover up

fret, fear in our eyes.  Even the billow

 of disinfectant can’t comfort.

The gospel echoes in the church.

Believers pray to God,

able to see the one they love

through the next breath or sunrise.

This man gets up earlier than herons

Not enjoying the mountains or trees.

Applicators, nozzles, and melt units

Create a security barrier

Dry God's tears with flesh and blood.

Ride the wind and waves with mortal feet.

On the earth where imagination has never been,

Love is extravagantly used to kill bacteriotoxin

Our future is the light in the stars

With sprinkle gold glitter over

So it doesn't matter if we go through the dark

Human mind will triumph in euphoria.

                             --Vincenza