As I’ve mentioned before, Shanghai is around two months ahead of the health crisis that is hitting the rest of the world right now. People have asked me whether I think China’s figures on coronavirus cases are reliable. It’s impossible to say when information is so strictly controlled by the state. I can really only speak for what I’ve seen in Shanghai, but if Shanghai is a reflection of much of the rest of China then I guess the figures are somewhat plausible (82,867 cases, 3,339 deaths, sixth globally behind France, Germany, Italy, Spain and USA), but only based on the number of people who have actually been tested. Having said this I am aware that many of China’s official figures lack credibility.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/07/why-do-we-keep-treating-china-source-reliable-information/?
International borders are currently closed so China is still in a state of lockdown, although internal restrictions have eased. Almost everyone here still wears a mask outdoors. I wonder how long it will take until it’s not the norm. Nevertheless, if I lived in Wuhan rather than Shanghai, I would be telling a different story of first hand experience with the coronavirus.
Shanghai is hardly anything like the rest of China and I appreciate that my life here is in stark contrast to those elsewhere right now. For instance, back home in Australia, people can’t gather outside in groups of more than two. Last weekend I enjoyed brunch with a dozen friends on a restaurant terrace. It’s a relief to be able to do this after a fraught couple of months, although deep down, I do feel that the unfolding economic crisis will be closer to 1929 than 2008. I just sold a Nikon D800 DSLR, a lens and a laptop to ease the pressure a little.
I can say that I don’t know anyone personally or know anyone who knows anyone in Shanghai who has contracted Covid-19. The closest connection I have is someone who says one person in their compound of maybe two dozen high-rise apartments of 30 stories or so returned with it after Chinese New Year, back in early February. This is far from scientific, I know
Of course it’s impossible to test everyone and according to China’s own figures recorded over 24 hours from the afternoon of April 1st, 78% of 166 infections were asymptomatic. How many of these people will develop symptoms or remain asymptomatic is still unclear. You can read more about this at this link from BMJ (formerly known as the British Medical Journal).
https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1375
It’s fair to assume that the United States’ official numbers are far below the actual cases too. It’s been well documented that the the U.S. government has struggled to test people for Covid-19. All these unknowns are why so many people are freaking out these days.
One thing that concerns me is that the statistics of coronavirus cases have become a morbid competition between China and ‘The West’ or to be more specific, China and the United States. The rise in xenophobia both here in China and abroad is a reflection of this. Here’s something that has been doing the rounds on the Chinese internet. Of course there has been a Covid-19-related outbreak of violence and abuse towards Asians outside China.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/asian-american-racism-coronavirus_l_5e790a71c5b63c3b64954eb4
I do think China can take pride in flattening the curve of the virus’ spread, but national pride also has its dangers. Painting a rosy picture to please the Party is not without precedent in recent Chinese history and the results have been devastating. China today is vastly different place to under Mao’s reign, but if The Great Leap Forward is written off a ‘natural disaster’ how can a society learn from its past?
According to a report in the New York Times, safeguards had been put in place in wake of the SARS crisis in 2002-2004 to promptly report outbreaks. Obviously, these safeguards weren’t heeded when Wuhan ophthalmologist Dr. Li Wenliang, 34, tried to alert his colleagues to a new untreatable virus on December 30. I suppose anyone reading this knows what happened next, but the doctor’s death due to the coronavirus did cause widespread anger. If there was another wave of infection in China, hopefully local officials won’t shoot the messenger again.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/29/world/asia/coronavirus-china.html
Anyway, as I was saying, things are sort of looking up in Shanghai. There’s still not much commercial photography work, but this week I photographed the installation of a touring exhibition called Beyond Fashion at the Shanghai Center of Photography. The gallery has been closed since before Chinese New Year. Beyond Fashion can be viewed by limited numbers, by appointment only.
Another thing to be pleased about is that my gym is finally opening again (by appointment only, access only via showing a green tick on a phone app that tracks movement, bring your own towel). I’m looking forward to going for a swim again.
I’m thankful that the social isolation is over (at least over for now) and that there’s been some nice spring weather. I was going to share some film scans from a brunch last weekend, but I thought that might seem a bit off-key considering the content of this post, so here are some more photos from around Shanghai recently.
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