The COVID Stares
Censorship
In a communist country, all news and information are both regulated and filtered. That’s what you call ‘censored’. Essentially, it is true though, the government controls what their citizens see and hear and there's no google for the people to research completely freely on their own. Textbooks and curriculums in school are controlled and sometimes the information taught is distorted. I hate to brood or preach negativity about a place, but it is the truth. China has all their own versions of the online world- versions of Tik Tok, Twitter, Instagram and search engines- which I suspect provide filtered information as well. Thank the lawd for a VPN, otherwise I don't think any expats would be living in this country. It’s definitely something that takes some getting used to.
The stares
All this being said, living in Shanghai isn't like the rest of China. It’s a very progressive, multicultural and educated city. Living as a foreigner in this city is easy and convenient. Being the financial epicenter of the country, Shanghai has an incredibly large and diverse international community. You don't receive those all so familiar ‘you don’t look like me’ stares that I’m so used to getting in Asia. These happen all the time and over the years, you grow to expect them.
Traveling outside the city and into other parts of China, you of course receive these stares because you just look different. In the more rural areas, they might not be used to seeing foreigners every day. Recently though, these stares have changed. I won’t say if this is specific to China because I have yet to travel elsewhere in Asia since the start of the pandemic. What I do know is that the stares hold fear behind their eyes.
A new kind of stare
Now when I walk down the street, I’m met with a COVID stare and up they pull their mask onto their face as they walk past me. This is due to misinformation. People are told that the virus is ‘imported’ into the country. The government releases information on new COVID cases and always refers to them with this terminology. This creates a misunderstanding of where the virus is coming from and therefore, foreigners have begun to experience discrimination. As a foreigner, nationals assume that you’re not from here, you've been traveling and could potentially be a threat. This is even more frustrating for the expats that have been here for 6+ years. They consider this country to be their home and yet they are also met with prejudice due to this misconception.
I’ve felt it and so have many others here. Sometimes it’s quite blatant and at a much greater level than just the individual. Recently some airbnbs and hotels have refused foreigners from staying with them, only accepting Chinese nationals. There have been stories of visas being refused for renewal since the pandemic. Many suggest it’s all an effort to get rid of some of the international community. People felt as if the government was just looking for ways to kick people out of the country. In all honesty, I haven’t known anyone to experience this firsthand, but I’ve heard this mentioned many times before.
While the expat community experiences this here, I know that the Asian community elsewhere in the world has had to experience much discrimination in regards to the virus. News of hate crimes and prejudice elsewhere and in the US have demonstrated what fear can influence others to do. People are always pointing a finger when they’re scared; it’s much easier to rationalize your fear when you have someone or something to blame.
Covid prejudice
Jake and I traveled for Chinese New Year in February 2022. Along our journey we took a train north to a place called Lijiang in Yunnan Province. This province is absolutely stunning and the countryside of China is seriously underestimated, it's just so beautiful.
On this train, we were the only foreigners in sight. We sat in our seats and the staff made some rounds, double checking tickets and seat assignments. Suddenly, a staff member walks down the aisle with an electronic thermometer and beelines it straight to us. He aims at our heads, takes our temperature and scans not a single other person.
You laugh it off because well, you have to! What else can you do?
It's important to say, I don’t like to generalize and you shouldn't either from reading this. If traveling has taught me anything, it's that people make your experience just as much as the place does. My years on the road have showed me how good people inherently are, how generous and kind. Not every person in China feels this way and I don’t intend to preach that rhetoric; but this is how I’ve felt and this is what I’ve experienced thus far.
Madeline