https://www.scmp.com/rss/503688/feed As the number of coronavirus infections and deaths continues to rise, the places and people at the center of the outbreak risk becoming statistics. In this series of articles, Inkstone passes the microphone to those most affected by the epidemic. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com A goodwill coin box outside a jewellery shop that offers a few yuan to help passers-by in need has delighted mainland Chinese social media. Liu Benfu, a 31-year-old jewellery store owner from the city of Chengdu, Sichuan province, southwestern China, had the novel idea of setting up the box and filling it with hundreds of coins and then offering them to anyone in need. “Up to five yuan (75 US cents) per person,” Liu wrote next to two smiley faces on a sign next to the box. And at the bottom of... https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/social-welfare/article/3178547/china-coronavirus-charity-shop-owner-leaves-coin?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/social-welfare/article/3178547/china-coronavirus-charity-shop-owner-leaves-coin?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 May 2022 01:00:16 +0000 March and April are supposed to be busy times for designers in Shanghai as they prepare for Shanghai Fashion Week, which normally takes place in October and April. But with a Covid-19 flare up on March 1 and Shanghai entering a citywide lockdown a month later under China’s “dynamic zero Covid” strategy, some have found themselves under strict lockdown. Shanghai Fashion Week had been gaining momentum, largely thanks to Chinese consumers’ strong spending power and a growing army of Chinese... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-beauty/article/3176620/shanghai-lockdown-fashion-designers-talk-about-uncertain?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-beauty/article/3176620/shanghai-lockdown-fashion-designers-talk-about-uncertain?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 May 2022 23:15:13 +0000 An artist in Beijing has begun live-streaming a recreation of 14 days in quarantine in response to China’s zero-Covid policy and to raise public awareness of art. The live stream, launched on April 23, is being broadcast on Tencent’s WeChat Channel and has drawn public attention with 3.1 million people watching at the time of writing. Pang Kuan, the lead singer and keyboard player of Chinese rock band New Pants, will spend 24-hours a day being live-streamed performing the behavioural artwork... https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3175658/truman-show-chinese-style-artist-creates?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3175658/truman-show-chinese-style-artist-creates?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 27 Apr 2022 10:00:16 +0000 Shanghai saw a record 39 fatalities from Covid-19 as Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan called for the timely treatment of patients, while a rash of new cases in Beijing prompted local authorities to step up measures to cut chains of transmission. A total of 21,058 new cases in Shanghai were recorded in the last 24 hours, 10 per cent less than a day earlier, according to data released on Sunday. Symptomatic cases plunged by 49 per cent to 1,401. Cumulative infections since the outbreak began on March 1... https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3175342/coronavirus-shanghai-records-record-39-deaths-latest?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3175342/coronavirus-shanghai-records-record-39-deaths-latest?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 24 Apr 2022 06:38:42 +0000 Residents trapped by Shanghai’s weeks-long coronavirus lockdown are joining a new trend of hiring online agents to create tailor-made videos of dancing African actors offering well-wishes and uplifting messages to their neighbours locked down in the same compound. Most of the city’s 25 million residents are still under a strict lockdown. Some have been quarantined at home for more than a month. In the past week, a new fad where people pay to receive video well-wishes has become popular among... https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3174665/china-coronavirus-new-craze-sees-shanghai?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3174665/china-coronavirus-new-craze-sees-shanghai?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 18 Apr 2022 10:03:14 +0000 When the lockdown was declared in his compound on March 22 due to a positive Covid-19 case, Yang Weimin and his wife, who live alone, only had three to five days’ worth of food at home. The elderly couple, like many Shanghai residents, did not keep weeks or months’ worth of food at home because they always knew they could get food whenever they wanted. The Yangs, 66 and 59, were caught off guard by the sudden outbreak of the epidemic and the ongoing closure controls: until April 4, the family’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/social-welfare/article/3174318/coronavirus-shanghais-forgotten-elderly-rely?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/social-welfare/article/3174318/coronavirus-shanghais-forgotten-elderly-rely?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 14 Apr 2022 22:00:25 +0000 Footage of rain leaking in a Shanghai temporary coronavirus isolation shelter has caused further embarrassment for the Chinese government which is already under fire over the poor construction quality of its hastily built isolation facilities. The video clip circulated quickly on social media on Wednesday, joining other videos taken by people stuck in isolation shelters, known as a fangcangs in China, which have created more fear among the public of being taken away than of the virus... https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/social-welfare/article/3174277/shanghai-outbreak-leaking-collapsing-roofs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/social-welfare/article/3174277/shanghai-outbreak-leaking-collapsing-roofs?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 14 Apr 2022 09:56:22 +0000 A video of Shanghai residents buying four fridges and moving them from a truck into their community triggered a heated debate earlier this week, with many who saw the footage, saying were also interested in changing their fridges to a large-sized one or adding a freezer at home as stockpiling food has become a priority during the lockdown. A man with the alias Qin Yi who lives in the same residential compound in Pudong District as the fridge buyers said one of his neighbours bought a freezer... https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/social-welfare/article/3174145/shanghai-lockdown-fridges-freezers-high-demand?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/social-welfare/article/3174145/shanghai-lockdown-fridges-freezers-high-demand?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 Apr 2022 11:02:00 +0000 A resignation letter by a Shanghai community official and a recorded conversation between another community official and a resident have emerged on Chinese social media, revealing a picture of low-level officials struggling in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. The resignation letter, released on the WeChat last week, was written by Ma Shengye, the Communist Party’s secretary in charge of a residential compound in the city’s Huangpu District and explained he was resigning due to his... https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/article/3174025/shanghai-covid-lockdown-chinese-community-officials-feel-strain?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/article/3174025/shanghai-covid-lockdown-chinese-community-officials-feel-strain?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Apr 2022 22:00:25 +0000 A recording of a confrontation between a Shanghai couple who tested negative for coronavirus and a police officer who said otherwise has highlighted growing public fears over case misreporting as the city places hundreds of thousands of people into group isolation amid the latest outbreak. The couple’s latest nucleic acid test results on the government’s official platform were negative, however, they were forcibly taken to a temporary hospital after a police officer arrived at their door and... https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/social-welfare/article/3173882/shanghai-lockdown-residents-fear-false-positive?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/social-welfare/article/3173882/shanghai-lockdown-residents-fear-false-positive?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 11 Apr 2022 11:19:25 +0000 Each night under the cover of darkness, Shanghai resident Zhang Hongyan and her neighbours conduct barter transactions to get essentials which are in short supply due to the city’s coronavirus lockdown. The residents conduct their bartering at night to avoid being caught outside their homes by authorities who enforce strict penalties for anyone caught breaking lockdown. On Thursday night, Zhang, who lives in the Baoshan district of the city, offered 10 eggs for barter in a WeChat group chat in... https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/article/3173658/china-coronavirus-shanghai-residents-risk-punishment-breaching?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/article/3173658/china-coronavirus-shanghai-residents-risk-punishment-breaching?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 Apr 2022 00:30:21 +0000 While residents in Shanghai try a variety of novel ways to buy daily essentials during the city’s coronavirus lockdown, billionaires it seems are no exception. The city recorded 19,982 Covid-19 cases yesterday, setting a daily record for the sixth day in a row, as the city’s 25 million residents remain under a hard lockdown as authorities struggle to contain the virus and carry out mass testing. On Thursday a screen capture of a message by Kathy Xu Xin, dubbed as “China’s venture capital queen”,... https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/article/3173607/even-chinese-billionaire-kathy-xu-xin-struggles-buy-milk-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/article/3173607/even-chinese-billionaire-kathy-xu-xin-struggles-buy-milk-and?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 Apr 2022 10:47:04 +0000 A Shanghai woman who underwent a double eyelid procedure had to get her sutures removed at the gate of her residential complex after it was placed under Covid-19 lockdown. The woman, whose name was not released, had the procedure in the middle of March at a cosmetic medical institute, news portal D-video reported. Shanghai reported 50 coronavirus patients and 3,450 asymptomatic cases on Sunday. A total of 14,376 local asymptomatic cases are still under medical observation, according to the... https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3172139/chinese-woman-has-sutures-double-eyelid-surgery?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3172139/chinese-woman-has-sutures-double-eyelid-surgery?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Mar 2022 10:30:31 +0000 The coronavirus situation in mainland China remains dire, and in the midst of the difficult fight against the disease are countless health workers and volunteers, and the families supporting them. Recently, a four-year-old boy in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, eastern China, created a drawing capturing four generations of his family members fighting the pandemic; his 77-year-old great-grandmother carrying a kettle of hot water to frontline staff; his 51-year-old grandfather who stayed at his... https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3171727/china-coronavirus-two-little-boys-support-family?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3171727/china-coronavirus-two-little-boys-support-family?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 24 Mar 2022 09:57:59 +0000 Into the third week of March, snowfall continues to coat the empty streets of Changchun, the capital city of northeastern Jilin province, glistening and mostly untouched by traffic. Facing its most serious wave of coronavirus infections since the onset of the pandemic, the city of 9 million people has been in a full lockdown since Friday, forcing residents to self-quarantine at home. And the entire province has been effectively sealed off since Monday, with all inter-province travel banned. Jia... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3170826/chinas-zero-covid-policy-leaves-poorer-regions-little-choice?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3170826/chinas-zero-covid-policy-leaves-poorer-regions-little-choice?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Mar 2022 00:00:29 +0000 A woman in China has become an internet celebrity after getting trapped in the house of a man she was on a blind date with due to a Covid-19 lockdown. The woman surnamed Wang went to dinner last week at the home of a blind date in Zhengzhou, Henan province, central China. When she was leaving the compound where his house is located, she was told by security guards that the whole area had been put under lockdown. Since then, she released several clips on video platform Douyin about her daily life... https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3163422/china-coronavirus-woman-blind-date-trapped-after?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3163422/china-coronavirus-woman-blind-date-trapped-after?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 14 Jan 2022 10:00:21 +0000 Trip.com Group, China’s largest online travel platform by value, will remain focused on the domestic market as Covid-19 travel restrictions continue to ground virtually all Chinese outbound tours, the co-founder and chairman of the firm said on Thursday. James Liang told the South China Morning Post that the platform’s domestic travel booking volume this year was 70 to 80 per cent of pre-Covid levels, but cross-border travel services, which accounted for 20 per cent of total business before the... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3158205/chinas-largest-online-travel-platform-tripcom-focus-domestic-bookings?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3158205/chinas-largest-online-travel-platform-tripcom-focus-domestic-bookings?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 03 Dec 2021 01:00:21 +0000 Many foreigners living in mainland China appreciate the variety of landscapes, weather, customs and food the Middle Kingdom has to offer, but also like to take holidays abroad – if not back in their home countries then perhaps on the beaches of Southeast Asia. With international borders having been sealed by coronavirus restrictions for the past year and a half, however, the resort city of Sanya, on Hainan Island, the southernmost province of China, has proven to be a valued substitute, and a... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3138699/sanya-beach-resorts-draw-tourists-missing-their-bali-or?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3138699/sanya-beach-resorts-draw-tourists-missing-their-bali-or?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 27 Jun 2021 04:15:16 +0000 A series exploring the different experiences of recovered Covid-19 patients around the world. 1. Life as a coronavirus patient in Wuhan during its darkest hour A teacher’s story in the first of a series exploring the experiences of Covid-19 survivors from around the world. 2. Musician recounts horror from Covid-19 bar cluster Mark Anthony Balcueva struggled to breathe and had to be put on a cocktail of drugs, with only the thought of his daughter back in the Philippines keeping him alive. 3.... https://www.scmp.com/node/3083111?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/node/3083111?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 May 2020 03:53:23 +0000 It’s a story that repeats itself over and over in the month since the central Chinese city of Wuhan went into lockdown. As the city’s infrastructure crumbled under the weight of an epidemic the country’s leader called the “most difficult” to control, civilians sprang into action to help one another. They are ordinary citizens except for the fact that they decided to act. They are volunteers who have no experience in organizing. They have little in common besides a shared sense of... https://www.scmp.com/society/voices-china-citizen-volunteers-keeping-wuhan-alive/article/3052133?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/society/voices-china-citizen-volunteers-keeping-wuhan-alive/article/3052133?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 Feb 2020 12:15:24 +0000 The march of the coronavirus has shown little signs of stopping. The virus has sickened at least 64,440 people and killed 1,380 worldwide since the outbreak was first reported in late December. But while the disease’s footprint has spread to over 24 countries, its toll has been concentrated in mainland China, where all except 3 deaths have been reported. For many people living in the heart of the epidemic, fending off the virus remains a priority. As whole cities are sealed off and public... https://www.scmp.com/society/voices-china-how-many-really-died-coronavirus-and-how-survivors-live/article/3050672?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/society/voices-china-how-many-really-died-coronavirus-and-how-survivors-live/article/3050672?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 14 Feb 2020 11:21:40 +0000 Isolated, and sometimes shunned, the central Chinese province of Hubei is the ground zero of the coronavirus outbreak. It accounts for some 74% of more than 43,000 people sickened globally by a disease that causes fever and cough and, in severe cases, pneumonia or death. For those who have contracted the coronavirus, they wake each day hoping it’s their turn for treatment in a public health system inundated by patients and staffed with exhausted doctors and nurses. For healthy families, staying... https://www.scmp.com/society/coronavirus-outbreak-what-people-wuhan-want-tell-world/article/3050013?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/society/coronavirus-outbreak-what-people-wuhan-want-tell-world/article/3050013?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 11 Feb 2020 11:59:18 +0000