On the road to Suzhou, finally! Months of silence in my journal. History will take its turns but the core will not be lost. From February this year, China has been locked down, with the rest of the world following in its wake. This is all due to the outbreak of nCoV-19, a coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19. About 20% of infections leads to serious (respiratory) symptoms, of which eventually about 3% dies. It is contagious through the air; human carriers host the virus for a long time; and the dichotomy of the disease is evident (many infected people hardly notice anything). It is therefore the most dangerous infectious disease of our time.
With SARS in mind, countries as China, Taiwan, and Singapore have been relatively stark in their response. South Korea, due to their more recent MERS debacle, may have been the most alert of all. Despite clear signals from medical personnel from Wuhan (the center of the first outbreak) and having a very different take on shutting down the economy, all other countries have been caught off-guard by the exponential nature of this outbreak. Panic has led to draconian measures in the less transparent regions of our planet (denial, silencing the press, claiming victory in times of policy failure) in Russia, Iran, China, USA, Brazil.
During the last months I left the city only once. I had to go to Hangzhou to extend my visa. Here is the message that I wrote to my family on March 2nd:
“So, went up and down to Hangzhou today. At 4:45 I took a taxi to the train station. There, thermal cameras stood ready to take the first temperature measurement of the day. It was quiet on the train. To prevent the disease from spreading, one seat is now deliberately left empty between all passengers.
When I arrive at Hangzhou East, my temperature is taken and I enter my details on an app that gives me a green code. With this code I am allowed to enter the city. I transit by subway (after a guard checks my green code and checks my temperature) to my first destination.
While riding the subway, I watch a news program on the screens, provided in Chinese, English, and sign language. I am impressed by the cosmopolitan atmosphere here. Then I open the Dutch NOS site and read that Uighur people are now on sale in batches, an opportunity that is not missed by many Fortune 500 companies. I shake my head and dive back into my Chinese roller-coaster seat.
My first destination is the police station, for registration. When I leave the subway, I notice that neighborhoods in Hangzhou have been closed off with fences, people can only enter separate city districts with a green code on your app. Streets are crowded, though.
Traveling to my second destination requires another app check and temperature check. It’s lunchtime. Some restaurants and the Starbucks are open, but I can only order and pick up at the door – after a temperature check. There is no place to sit down.
After submitting my visa application I transit back to the train station. In the train we have to scan another QR code to find out if and how we are allowed to enter Shanghai (with the question: have you been to Hubei province?). I get code B and can go home, passing rows of police and people in white hazmat suits at the station terminal.
Before boarding the train to Shanghai, I order a coffee at the station in Hangzhou and drink it near a window that overlooks the station square. I notice that many people are keeping their distance. There’s something brotherly and curious about this all, watching people who all share the same concern. I imagine that the Chinese might even be able to handle this better than others, being wary of something invisible, put on a mask, walking slowly, talk in silence.”
Written on May 11, 2020