Documentary Filmmaker, based in China. 25+ year Expat. I won't die on a couch. memostothefuture.bsky.social
Shanghai, China
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I finally created an account on Bluesky.
If you are on there as well I'd like it if we kept in touch.
@memostothefuture.bsky.social
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Shanghai Covid Stories:
So how do you get food during a lockdown, when shops, restaurants and delivery apps are out of service?
Spoiler: It's tough.
A thread.
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Recently Health Checking Urinals have begun popping up in Men's restrooms all over Shanghai.
A private company is offering the urine analysis for RMB 20. Naturally I tried that out.
Here's how that went.
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Videos of employees at Tencent's Shenzhen office running away are making the rounds online.
A full building lockdown is said to have been announced after a person tested positive for Covid-19.
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Addendum: my Chinese wife could not have cared less about all of this and is surprised this tweet ended up as popular as it did.
At least now I can prove to her I'm not the only weirdo who finds this stuff interesting.
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Costco Shanghai got locked down yesterday and once again there are videos of people trying to run out before authorities can lock them inside for 48h.
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I don't think this shall replace a visit to your doctor but it might very well prompt one.
A cardiologist told me that thanks to Apple Watches he now saw more people before they had heart attacks.
That's kind of what I am hoping for here.
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My first test indicated I lacked Calcium but was otherwise unremarkable. I like how the Wechat image translation called me a Porsche.
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The company seems to be installing them all over China and given how important early detection of health issues is I think this is quite good.
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It's a rainy day in Shanghai. I'm spending my day with the telephoto lens at my window. A few pictures.
1: Someone is living in a tent on the street across from my apartment. The tent has been here since April 1st.
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I know what you're thinking: A Chinese Company - what about privacy?
Truth be told - I am middle-aged and haven't had a health check in a while. I'm more worried about knowing everything is ok and the convenience is unbeatable.
I'm finally actually doing what I know I should.
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The whole process is about as easy as one might think. I paid my fee via wechat and before I even made it down the escalator had my results.
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Shanghai Lockdown Stories:
Today I have a special Gate Pass, the official permit required to go out onto the streets.
Are supermarkets open?
Are doors covered with barriers?
Let's find out!
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A few days later I stumbled over another of these urinals and did another test. Apparently I had been drinking enough milk by then. The tests seem to be rather comprehensive as well.
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Happy to tell you @EP_Lawrence is looking his usual happy, healthy self tonight on Wulumuqi Lu.
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Shanghai Covid Stories: Barriers are being installed all over the city. Meanwhile their purpose hasn't been fully explained.
A thread.
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One final comment: I get a lot of shocked replies to these lockdown threads and you are right to recognize these are very hard times and that it is ok to not be ok.
But in normal times this is a fascinating, beautiful and certainly never boring city. I am happy to call SH home.
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Another building in Shanghai's Yangpu District received notice of an abnormal test result and a 48h lockdown.
People reacted as expected.
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Remember: not everyone can even afford the price increases that happen when supply shortages create bottlenecks.
I dare also not think of what people in quarantine facilities are fed. This widely-shared image shows an office building that was converted into one such place.
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Here is what we got in one of these boxes.
We have gotten four in just as many weeks.
We think we are among the luckier ones.
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Stories begin to circulate. Roughly 11,000 delivery drivers are supposed to be camping outside, some in tents, some under bridges. They are trying to avoid being locked down in their homes so they can keep delivering goods.
Hope!
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After having seen at least five compounds going into Lockdown tonight I decided to hit COSTCO.
Turns out half of Shanghai had the same idea.
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On the evening of the announcement of the lockdown half of Shanghai seemed to be descending onto supermarkets at once.
People bought everything. They over-prepared, taking what they could carry.
It didn't matter.
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People in high-rise apartment buildings often don't know their neighbors. Now they begin organizing building-wide group chats.
Someone knows a bakery and they still have staff sleeping in the warehouse. Who wants a bread box? Minimum order RMB6,000. Together we can do that.
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City districts are trying to organize food deliveries. But how many of us have ever tried to organize food for tens or even hundreds of thousands?
Maybe you are lucky and food arrives on a gigantic truck. Maybe you are not. We all hear there are people starving.
I am lucky.
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I am working on a documentary about the many delivery drivers who are keeping us fed now. Often the poorest of the poor, they are accepting the risks and hardships so they can help us survive - and get by themselves.
If you are a broadcaster or editor - DMs are open.
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You hear stories of old people who cannot use smartphones. One grandpa lives three floors below you.
Food is being organized for them and people in the group chat ask for insulin. He has run out.
He is lucky. Others are not.
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Need medical treatment? Many hospitals aren't accepting new patients.
The neighborhood committee sources a pass for the old man in your building to be driven to his doctor. He walks back four hours because he is ashamed of calling for help. No taxis.
I see others walking home.
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Each box contains Pretzels, 100 slices of toasted bread, 2 loafs of sourdough bread and 12 sesame rolls. High quality stuff. RMB 250/box.
50 orders come together quickly. If you were the one organizing this you now have to collect money from everyone, transfer it and wait.
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Someone sources eggs. Another group chat pops up with a fresh milk offer. Bottled water is sourced. You are lucky, you live in a large residential compound with many people around.
Others are not. Buildings with active infections get doors sealed shut, no deliveries in and out.
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Your first thought might be delivery apps. Good idea! Restaurants, supermarkets, shops: they're all on there.
But now instead of 100 shops nearby only one might pop up at 6am. You try to order, tapping time and again, but they disappear before you can finish or the App crashes.
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I'm in Chengdu about to board the Comac C919 to Shanghai. Lots of photographers here. More pictures once I have wifi.
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Maybe you decide to volunteer.
This is what you will do, besides handing out antigen tests and collecting the trash for all your neighbors, who aren't allowed to come out of their apartments.
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I woke up this morning to a red health code and a flurry of phone calls.
"You have been to Cages (a large sports bar)."
I had not.
I've been locked down at home the past 24 hours.
No matter.
"We will come pick you up."
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It takes about three days for a truck to pull up outside. Each order is in its own box but its at the front gate.
Some come at 4am, some come hours late.
You have to put on a hazmat suit and deliver them to everyone yourself.
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If you want to understand just how empty Shanghai is take a look at this drone footage by @timmy_tumbler on Youtube. His Channel is very much worth subscribing to.
piped.video/watch?v=H65I-b3U…
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Images reportedly from Beijing are going around showing barriers being erected around residential compounds. Apparently they are using razor wire now.
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Shanghai is turning into the Ghost Town Beijing has already been for a week. Everybody seems either sick or staying in to avoid Covid.
This is a usually busy shopping street today:
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After a week the public food deliveries get sorted out. You get good quality supplies but they are not nearly enough. This won't change. You are on your own to fill the gap.
Neighbors volunteer to collect and distribute the group buys. Only a few individual purchases make it.
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Shanghai Lockdown Stories:
As the city is being opened up and the first residents get to enjoy being outside again eviction day has come for delivery drivers who have been living in tents all over the city.
A Thread.
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While you are going through all this your savings continue to dwindle. Shanghai is an expensive city and there is no reprieve from rent or other bills.
If you are living paycheck-to-paycheck one box like this might be it for a week.
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The light is beautiful this morning in Shanghai and I decided to take the drone out to explore my neighborhood.
A thread.
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Meanwhile your release date from quarantine gets pushed back time and again. Every single time your entire residential compound has a single case the 14-day clock restarts.
Now you no longer feel that lucky. You see a few others being released. Some get locked again soon after.
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I'm at Beijing Capital Airport and next to me at arrivals is a welcoming party for arriving foreign students.
45 are coming from all kinds of countries except one: there isn't a single American student among the group.
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You may now have enough staple foods but all the creature comforts you are used to are gone. That sauce you like? That one ingredient you need to make that one dish? Alcohol?
All that is not happening.
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Micro-entrepreneurs have sprung up, selling what they have on the street. Very few shops are open. You don't have much choice even if they let you out onto the streets.
@TMK_TinaManiK shared a few such images. Do follow her.
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“Politics first, safety second, science third.”
Rarely has a sentence caused my blood to boil like it did when I read this in “Wuhan: How the COVID-19 Outbreak in China Spiraled Out of Control” by @Dali_Yang.
A thread.
TL; DR: it’s worth your time.
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When I moved to Shanghai in 2012 I asked my colleagues to take me to lunch.
I wanted to discover Chinese food;
they took me to eat Burgers.
This is how I got introduced to the vibrant alleys
and lane houses that made up Tianzifang 田子坊.
Today this area is dead.
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Shanghai Lockdown Stories:
These past two months have been extraordinary.
So how are you guys doing?
A series of street interviews with residents,
updated as I continue to meet people.
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Even though I had seen the vast emptiness from my window I wasn't prepared for the deserted streets that awaited me outside.
This is Changshou Lu and Shaanxi Bei Lu, usually around the clock a packed intersection.
I could have danced in the middle.
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Shanghai quarantine stories: in which we found a homeless guy in our building.
Recently neighbors began complaining about group buys not arriving and items missing.
The volunteers were confused. We had taken pride in diligently delivering orders. So what had happened?
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What I find extra impressive about the multiple protests in Urumqi, Nanjing, Shanghai, Wuhan, Guangzhou and other places is that many people go out without fully knowing they are not alone. Imagine how scary it must be for them and how frustrated they must be.
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I usually like Chinatalk but the most recent episode with Noah Smith was just unhinged and terrible. Give Nukes to everyone, Xi stuck to Covid measures bec they listen to Leftist Twitter, you can't take Chinese HSR on visa-free travel... so many terrible takes in so little time.
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Everybody knows the government in China censors topics it doesn’t like. What is less often discussed is how Chinese streaming platforms and other social media sites handle restrictions on content.
So let’s talk about that.
(A Thread.)
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11: For reference, this is what I can see from my apartment windows. I can also go up to the roof, which has a 360° view.
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Conversation with alcohol distributor in Shanghai today:
"Among my clients the expensive restaurants are struggling and even closing. Lower-end bars are doing well, people want to go out.
Shanghai residents spend like Tier 3 people now, nobody has money."
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Meanwhile pictures of more barriers arriving are passed around on Chinese Social Media. Phrases like "Hard Lockdown" are being used.
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It's crazy how many storefronts, malls, restaurants and other commercial locations are boarded up and empty of people in Shanghai now. This is a prime spot near the Bund, bustling a year ago and now dead.
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Monday morning 5am in Shanghai: large blue barriers are being installed on Wulumuqi Road as well as nearby side streets.
I doubt many shops will be busy today.
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To anyone worried about another prolonged Lockdown coming their way in China: stock up now.
Get staple foods that don't spoil easily first: Rice, Instant noodles, etc.
The first two weeks of lockdown were most difficult in Shanghai. Prepare for this time.
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Tonight at midnight the Shanghai Lockdown ended.
People had been out in Xuhui and Jing'An all day and by 11pm cars began appearing in larger numbers.
This was the countdown at an impromptu gathering spot outside a few closed bars.
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Someone is sending around a graphic to explain which Chinese Car brands survived or died in 2022.
What a bloodbath.
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The F&B industry in Shanghai is struggling.
Bars and restaurants are announcing closures every other day. Coffee shops just come and go. Creative solutions are are all around, not all of them legal.
A thread with images making the rounds on Chinese social media:
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Booking an airbnb-like rental in Beijing today, the listing said "no foreigners." Thinking it was just them not wanting to deal with people speaking only english I asked if I could stay. Nope. "There are now many foreign spies in China" was the reply.
Thanks, MSS.
This is on you.
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An old man stopped me on a Shanghai street today: "Are you American?"
I'm not.
He continues as if I were.
"Why do you want to go to war with us?"
He flashes a curious smile.
I'm not often at such a complete loss for words.
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The last few days have certainly been interesting but I found myself more intrigued by another story of Drama at the Congress: the Purge of the Yang Brothers in Dec 1992.
Strap in if you haven't heard about these two.
A Thread.
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You might wonder how I obtained this Gate Pass.
Money, or lack thereof, is the answer.
I needed an ATM to get cash from abroad or I wouldn't be able to buy food and pay rent.
The lady from the neighborhood committee understood. "Many people have this issue now," she said.
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In the distance a roadblock.
This is one of many I'll see on this trip.
Shanghai has been separated into neighborhoods, its asphalt arteries blocked by barriers, cops and temporary walls.
There are stories of areas having gone "silent."
No deliveries allowed for five days.
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Chinese Social Media is full of Self-propelled howitzers and other military equipment traveling along busy roads in Xiamen, clearly wanting to be seen.
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Near Nanjing Lu I drive along a street that features a dangerous hidden corner.
Usually this area is packed with pedestrians and scooters and neither are paying attention to opposing traffic, making this my least favorite place.
It's utterly deserted.
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After a few minutes I find an open street where I can pass through the roadblocks.
Policemen, friendly but firm, ask to see my Gate Pass.
Over the next few kilometers this will happen a lot.
Stealthily I film them as they check a driver.
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Drug tests at Shanghai bars seem to be back after a few years. Police usually surround a venue and require urine tests from anyone as they leave, in some cases holding patrons inside for up to four hours. Social media is full of young folks complaining.
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2: Residents in the building complex across the street were permitted to walk outside (within their compound walls) yesterday. Few are coming down to the river today.
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3: There seem to be a few more delivery drivers on the road now. It's still next to impossible to place orders online.
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The German Embassy in Beijing is conducting another Town Hall Zoom Call with Germans on the situation in Shanghai right now. A few highlights.
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6: Someone was asking me what the styrofoam food boxes the district used looked like up close. Here's your answer.
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So that's it for today.
If you enjoyed this thread you might also like a few of my other posts on the Shanghai Lockdown:
nitter.app/chris__pc/status/15177…
nitter.app/chris__pc/status/15169…
Shanghai Covid Stories:
So how do you get food during a lockdown, when shops, restaurants and delivery apps are out of service?
Spoiler: It's tough.
A thread.
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The sixth bank I stop at finally has an ATM in operation.
Dust coats the keyboard. Like it hasn't been used in a month.
Outside another testing station.
I see my first fenced in housing block, a large yellow plastic wall blocking the sidewalk.
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4: Smoking and watching TV on the balcony.
"Merry Xmas" sticker one floor below.
It's almost May.
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Shanghai Covid Stories:
So how are things going in week four of this lockdown?
A thread of new photos, continuously updated.
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A few minutes ago we made it to Mohe, Heilongjiang in an electric car.
Not everyone can say that.
@ElliotChina
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I see small testing stations set up on almost every other corner. A lot of delivery drivers stop for quick tests.
I heard that in Shenzhen access to shopping malls, offices, etc requires a fresh (48h) Covid-test.
Looks like that is coming to Shanghai.
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Interesting set of pictures from the "Four Pests Campaign" (除四害) 1958 to 1962.
People were told to help eliminate sparrows. Nests were destroyed and sparrows disturbed to keep them flying until they'd literally drop dead, falling out of the sky.
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Yet another week of record-breaking temperatures are slowly boiling the residents of Shanghai.
Many have taken to staying inside, making delivery drivers face the heat instead.
A good excuse to talk about how Ghost Kitchens are proliferating in the city.
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Shanghai Covid Stories: Our status got upgraded. We are now allowed to go outside of our buildings but not yet onto the streets.
A few impressions.
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A neighbor owns an event marketing agency.
Loveliest guy. Huge Ducati nerd.
He puts on a smile as he volunteers everyday but every now and then he slips up: "Things are bad. Real bad. All my clients have cancelled until July or August."
We're all going through the same thing.
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A picture taken in Mohe, Heilongjiang province.
The condensation results from the massive difference in temperatures and humidity. It was -22C outside that morning.
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Interestingly enough I have not been to Cages for six months. Why is my phone number registered there now? Are they fudging around with records?
Another call.
I am for sure getting picked up.
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An international school in Shanghai has sent notices to teachers forbidding them to "go out to restaurants, bars, clubs, or other public places" and threatening to hold them liable if their actions impact the school.
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I am baffled over stories I keep hearing from foreigners in Shenzhen and Guangzhou.
Apparently the local QR Health Code systems require Chinese ID, effectively making it impossible for anyone with a passport to scan codes and gain entry.
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"I, sir, am water."
"You need to work on your fragility."
And now we know that water can, in fact, burn.
@LakeSuperior
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