Me and my wife were about to start our new jobs in Shanghai when a lockdown was announced for an initial 4 days. It turned out to be much longer. What did we experience and which lessons did we learn?

The worst part about a 4-day lockdown is day 15…

…today we are on day 61. But first things first. After all, you do not just find yourself locked in a hotel room overnight in China’s largest and most glamorous city.

Our story began in the spring of 2021: my wife, who is also employed by DI PA, and I were given the opportunity to start a new job in Shanghai. After initial skepticism, our curiosity and the excitement of experiencing something completely foreign, new, and unknown outweighed our fears. Not least because Shanghai, one of the economic, cultural and international centers of China, was waiting for us and was quasi corona-free at the time. Since the Easter lockdown was being discussed in Germany back then, the offer seemed very tempting.

Entering China turned out to be difficult. Visa issuance was strictly limited and restricted to work visas, flights to the country were scarce and affected by frequent cancellations.

With perseverance, patience, a bit of suffering and finally the support of many great colleagues we finally made it: On 09.02.22 we sat in a chartered plane of the AHK to Qingdao – after two cancelled flights to Shanghai the best we could get. Once there, we were taken directly to our quarantine hotel in a so-called “closed loop”.

Upon arrival at the quarantine hotel, we were disinfected from top to bottom and were not allowed to touch anything without gloves and foot covers.

The 22sqm room was to be our center of life for three weeks, as it is for all people entering China. What we had imagined being very difficult in advance turned out not to be a particularly unpleasant experience. We received a hot meal three times a day and had prepared ourselves emotionally and materially well for the time. The days flew by between work, first attempts at use the Chinese APP world, home training and Netflix, and after 21 days the time had come: we took the train to freedom to Shanghai, which would become our home for the next two years.

The first day at work was a revelation, especially for my wife, who had worked almost exclusively in a home office in Germany for two years. Full offices, a cafeteria where you could sit across from each other, coffee kitchen conversations. Conditions we had not known since March 20.

But only 5 days later, this initial euphoria was curbed. The COVID-19 infections in Shanghai rose slowly but surely, rumors of people being locked up in their offices or shopping malls made the rounds. Site management at Siemens pulled the ripcord and ordered all employees into their home offices as a precaution.

This was the tipping point not only for work at Siemens, but also for life in the entire city. The mood was depressive, most locals had already left their homes only for the bare necessities. Deserted subway stations, deserted waterfront promenades and deserted shopping malls were the consequences. On Sunday evening, the 27.03.2022 the following was announced: There will be a 4-day lockdown. Beginning on next Friday morning. During this time, the entire population will be tested twice for Covid-19 in order to isolate the infected population in quarantine centers and for the rest of the population to return to a normal life as quickly as possible.

It is important to know that a lockdown in China is much stricter than in Germany. In concrete terms, this meant that people were allowed to leave their homes for four days exclusively for the PCR tests that had been ordered at the front door. Not for shopping, not for sports and also not to walk the dogs.

The reaction to this announcement was a run on the supermarkets. Long lines and empty shelves were the rule, especially in the first two days after the announcement.

Then, after the four days and two negative PCR tests, nothing happened. The lockdown was not lifted, we were not allowed to leave the hotel and even when asked, it was not possible to find out how and for how long this would continue.

A look in the refrigerator caused a sinking feeling in the stomach area. Since we had just arrived two weeks ago and had not actually planned to stay at the hotel for any length of time, we had no supplies to speak of. Fortunately for us, at least the supply of drinking water (you should not drink the tap water even if it’s boiled) was provided by the hotel. However, we had to take care of food ourselves. Since individual food deliveries are a fixed part of everyday life in Shanghai and are usually delivered within a few hours, this was theoretically no problem. But when 26 million people are dependent on deliveries in one fell swoop, and at the same time the existing delivery drivers and supermarket employees are also in lockdown and cannot do their jobs, the system collapses. The big relief came in the form of a food package from Siemens to support all employees during this difficult initial phase.

This whole chicken was sent to us by Siemens China. The preparation was new territory for us, but it still tasted delicious.

The second and most important pillar in the food supply turned out to be so-called group buys, which were established by the resourceful people after about two weeks. The idea was the following: Since, as described above, a large part of the drivers and supermarket employees in Shanghai were themselves in lockdown, the “last mile solution” of the logistics chains failed. So, the goods were delivered directly by truck from the large warehouses and distribution centers around Shanghai to the residential areas. The minimum quantities that had to be purchased for such a delivery were correspondingly large. The distribution of the goods within the neighborhood had to be organized by the residents themselves. Thus, numerous different WeChat (the Chinese equivalent of Whatsapp) groups were formed in a very short time, on which offers were shared and goods exchanged. For the next four weeks, this kind of supply would remain the only reliable way to buy food. For us, that meant spending a lot of time in Chinese chats, using translation tools to try to understand what was on offer, and then quickly snapping it up before it was all out of stock. Although the deliveries from Siemens and the possibility of group purchases meant that the basic food supply was not at risk for us, it felt very unfamiliar and uncomfortable not to be in control of our own food supply. Having to make one’s own menu dependent not on one’s desire but on the contents of the refrigerator, and not knowing when and how to provide a replacement for every product consumed, is something that Germans in their early 30s know at best from stories. The lack of “luxury goods” such as coffee, sweets or wine is not life-threatening, but it does put a noticeable damper on personal well-being. Especially when there is little else to distract one either.

The general information regarding the further course of action and outlook was still very opaque. It was difficult to get confirmed information. Most of the news spread as rumors via various group chats and turned out to be more or less correct in retrospect. The few official statements that were published were vaguely worded and the interpretation and execution ultimately left to the neighborhood committees. In practice, this led to a variety of different rules and regulations depending on where one lived.

We reached the valley of tears with the start of the third week. We felt helpless, depressed, and paralyzed.

After 28 days came the mental turning point: even small things could make an enormous difference. In our case, it was two things that changed at the same time. On the one hand, we were granted access to the in-house gym. On the other hand, we were immediately allowed into a 10 x 10 m cordoned-off area in front of the hotel entrance for some fresh air, our “Freedom Square.”

Lunch break in the “Freedom Square”. The sunny spots were always free.

Several things resulted from this change, which was small in itself: life not only took place exclusively within one’s own four walls, but gained an additional spatial dimension. Access to the gym provided a physical balance to mental work through exercise, and in “Freedom Square” one could breathe fresh air and replenish empty vitamin D stores. Both had an amazing effect on well-being. But the biggest difference was certainly that we now had the opportunity to get in touch with other people. Workout groups, after-work beers and UNO card game rounds quickly formed to pass the time. It was wonderful to see how nice and helpful our Chinese neighbors and colleagues were. They took calls for us from non-English speaking Chinese, translated strange messages where the translation tools were at their limits, or helped us fulfill more unusual requests to make our first wedding day special despite everything: Our neighbors were there for us, helping out and exchanging food and other things with us. A lively and friendly community developed within the hotel, making life here beautiful and worth living despite the circumstances.

For our 1st wedding anniversary, thanks to a colleague, we even had flowers and cake.

Today we have been in lockdown for almost two months. At the beginning of June, there should be small opening steps – rumored, of course.

What do we take away from this adventure for us?

It does not take much to survive alone, but it is both remarkable and frightening what the impact on well-being and mental state is when you can no longer meet your basic needs such as exercise, social contact and self-determination from one day to the next – without explanation or prospect of improvement.

At the same time, it takes much less than one would think to provide for improvement. We are already dreading the delivery of our belongings from Germany after the lockdown. Knowing what we know today, we probably would have taken less than half of it with us. Because in the last weeks we have felt what really counts: The helpfulness and care of our Siemens colleagues and the wonderful togetherness with our room neighbors have helped us to continue to look forward optimistically in this extreme situation.

Dinner together with our international neighbors.

Postscript:

For this purpose, the infrastructure in the form of an app and 15,000 PCR test stations distributed throughout the city was created within a very short time. The results are usually available within 6 hours, and the tests are free of charge.

So, everything is not yet the same, but we are looking forward with hope and optimism to the day when we can experience Shanghai without restrictions.

Contact: Stephan Muser

(Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephan-muser-5a8b9a138?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_contact_details%3BVlVmwcPFTz%2B94D24tjSHvg%3D%3D)