Immortalising strange experiences in words. COVID in China, August 2021

4 August 2021

I read a book today that reignited a fire within me.

It was a book of stories of strong women, all with a connection to Guangzhou, South China, and their experiences of COVID-19.

The mothers, the doctors, the business leaders, the friends, the crisis managers. The incredible woman and colleague who compiled this book (from which the profits are going to a local children’s charity), without even knowing she was doing it, inspired me to start putting words on paper again.

This is my first blog in 12 months. Why?

Most of you who know me will know me as a talker. I process feelings by saying the words out loud. I talk myself in and out of feelings, and up and down and round again. But when it comes to writing words on paper, if I’m having a tough time, or things are scary or difficult around me, I don’t write. I don’t want to immortalise them on the page. The gaps in my one-line-a-day diary, where I’d had days I didn’t want to remember, are bold, blank reminders of dodgy days, bad arguments, homesickness or worry.

I also think part of the reason I haven’t written in this blog in a year is because it felt insensitive to be writing about my jollies whilst the world was battling a pandemic. For most of my past 13 months in China, family and friends in the UK have been in lockdown, after lockdown, each one worse than the last. In that same period I have been able to travel to, and around, Beijing, Chongqing, Chengdu, Xi’an (more than once), Sanya, Gubei, Yangshou and Guangzhou. I’ve been to parties and picnics and drag shows and karaoke. I’ve hugged and danced with friends and strangers.

But the book I read today hasn’t revitalised my inner travel blogger (although I’m sure that’ll be back soon too), rather, it reminded me of how powerful immortalising some things in words on paper can be. And whether we want to remember them or not, they were reality. Some stuff really does deserve to be written down.

As I sit here typing this, it’s been 13 months and 10 days since I was brought back to China. We spent 6 glorious months saying goodbye to Chongqing, a city I fell so deeply in love with, and the friends for life that I made there. I have since had almost 7 months saying hello to Beijing, an incredibly vibrant and energetic city with opportunities to try almost anything you can think of. I started a new job, and I’ve (eventually) made new friends.

Also as I sit here, China is experiencing it’s biggest and most widespread outbreak of COVID since the whole thing began. Now that’s not saying much: China reacts strongly and sharply to an outbreak as small as one asymptomatic case. Local lockdowns, mass testing, emergency vaccinations and social distancing get put into place in seconds.

The issue for people here, in my opinion, isn’t the virus itself, but the restrictions that are imposed almost immediately. You have to be flexible, go with the flow and just do what you have to do. It’s because of their sharp and strong responses that I’ve been able to go to all of the above places and have the experiences that I’ve had.

Right now there are 144 medium and high risk areas around China. Each province and city has its own rules about managing people coming in and out, and sometimes even individual neighbourhoods have their own rules. Depending on where you’ve been you might end up doing any cocktail of home quarantine, hotel quarantine, taking tests, showing health kits, temperature checks… It’s for that reason that we currently have colleagues in various states of isolation who very much weren't expecting it! Sometimes it makes no sense, sometimes testing seems the most effective response rather than lockdowns... but sometimes you just have to put up and shut up.

I was lucky enough to spend last Wednesday to Monday in Yangshuo, a stunning part of South China with gumdrop mountains and activities galore - you’ve probably seen my many photos! I had then planned to accompany Ash to Guangzhou, a couple of hours away, to work in the Consulate there and spend the next weekend exploring. But on Sunday, murmurings started to happen about the Delta variant in parts of China. We are experienced enough to know that things could, and probably would, change in a second.

On Monday, the murmurings got a bit stronger, the Beijing burger competition was postponed by a month (!!!) and the Chinese government advised against all leisure travel. Beijing is very risk-averse (right now you can’t come into the city until 21 days after you enter China), so I decided to cut my trip short by 4 days and head home today, Wednesday.

That seems quite dramatic, to cut a trip short, doesn’t it? It feels quite dramatic too. But a lockdown or testing requirements could easily be implemented in a moment’s notice. Or Guangzhou could end up becoming a medium or high risk area. My visit to Guangzhou, unlike Ash’s, wasn’t essential, so I headed home to safely (as much as possible) know that I could work as normal. The risk of shenanigans making things annoying was too high.

The flight was really busy - not surprising for a flight heading to the capital - but there was an air of heightened awareness. Masks are mandatory on flights anyway, but I could see people around me wearing plastic face visors and goggles. But when we got to the airport, other than a temperature check, there was no other restrictions. My compound checked my temperature as I went in, but otherwise, again, totally fine. My dance class went ahead as normal, with the only difference being that tomorrow, everyone who works at the club my class is located in has to have a COVID test.

The context of these little-but-important outbreaks comes against a backdrop of very, very difficult international restrictions, making it very unappealing and almost impossible to leave China and come back in. At the moment we have no direct fights between the UK and China, meaning people are having lengthy 17 hour layovers in Helsinki or Frankfurt airports. All the poking, prodding and testing that has to happen in the UK also has to be repeated in transit. You then have to hope the Chinese Embassy turns your health code green on time.

Upon arrival into China, you get tested again, and whisked away into a quarantine hotel by hazmat-cladded staff. So strong is the will to stop people coming into China, the rules now require anybody aged 14 or over to quarantine in a room on their own for 14 or 21 days - depending on which city you arrive in. Your room isn’t cleaned, you don’t get new towels, there’s no excursion outside for fresh air. There’s dodgy WiFi, mediocre-to-bad food and jet lag to deal with.

We are lucky to live in a country as vast and varied as China at a time like this, and to have had the opportunities to travel that we have had so far. It's not the first COVID spook we've had since being back, and if history predicts the future, then we know if we sit tight for a while, things will be cancelled, trips will be called off, restrictions will be put in place, but eventually, things will relax again.

But despite knowing that, with pregnancies, weddings, funerals and reunions happening back home, the homesickness can be very real - especially when you can say with no certainty whatsoever when you will next see your family and friends.

But here we are.

So for now, I’m going to sit tight, go with the flow, and pay attention to this crazy, bonkers situation that we're living through. I'm going to prepare my arm for my second vaccine on Monday, I'm going to sanitise my hands.

And I’m going to send my colleague a message to thank her for inspiring me to get writing again.

Because some stuff really does deserve to be written down.