This archive report was first published on 23 August 2020.
Life in China Returns to Normal ¶
As the world struggles to contain the coronavirus pandemic, life in many parts of China has become surprisingly normal. Cities have relaxed social-distancing rules and mask mandates, and crowds are again filling tourist sites, movie theaters, and gyms.
"It no longer feels like there is something too frightful or too life-threatening out there," said Xiong Xiaoyan, a paint manufacturer in the southern province of Guangdong. "When the lights turned dark, I felt I had returned to my normal life," she added.
China's leaders are eager for people to get back to work and start shopping and traveling again, but they are also taking a cautious approach. To get into banks, restaurants, and other public venues, residents must submit to temperature checks and show digital codes verifying that they are healthy and have not traveled recently to high-risk areas.
While China is not the only place where restrictions have eased, the return of some normalcy has become a point of national pride and fodder for the country's vast propaganda apparatus. The state news media is pointing to the return of large gatherings and classes as evidence of China's superior response to the virus.
On Sunday, China reported no new locally transmitted cases for the seventh consecutive day. The 12 new infections it reported were all imported, bringing China's total number of confirmed cases to 84,951, with at least 4,634 deaths.
