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Shanghai lockdown life: a daily scramble for food, community burger runs or feeling jealous of the stray cats outside
- With the whole city effectively locked down, residents face a daily race to order fresh food online before stocks run out due to high demand
- Others are forming community groups to buy essentials or treats and are questioning when they will be allowed outside again
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Over the past week a rap titled Scrambling for Vegetables became an online hit with Shanghai residents for whom the race to buy fresh food has become a part of everyday life under lockdown.
Many locals are now having to get up at 6am in the hope of being able to order vegetables and meat online before stocks run out, meaning the song’s lyrics – “Scramble for vegetables. We scramble for vegetables together. After scrambling for vegetables, we do the nucleic acid test together” – have struck a chord with many in the city.
On Friday the whole of Puxi, the area to the west of the Huangpu River, went into lockdown – joining the eastern Pudong side, whose residents were told restrictions were not being lifted as planned.
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There are around a dozen apps that residents can use to order daily necessities, but many crash due to high demand and fresh food often sells out quickly with the whole city of 25 million effectively locked down.
A woman nicknamed Fangfang from the western Putuo district said she was already developing a routine.
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