[Editor’s note: On June 2, 2022, Shanghai neighborhoods returned to lockdown status only a day after restrictions were eased. This article is an account of the struggles experienced during the course of the initial lockdown. It is an ongoing story that Sampan will continue to cover.]

After a two-month lockdown of Shanghai, it appears as if things may return to normal in the near future. New infections have been falling for days. Public transportation routes and essential businesses–such as convenience stores and hairdressers–are gradually reopening. The lockdown is scheduled to be lifted on June 1, but past plans to lift it have been repeatedly delayed.

It seems counterintuitive that Shanghai, more liberally governed than almost any other Chinese city, has been subject to the strictest lockdown measures. For much of the pandemic, the city government insisted that it would not lock down a metropolis so crucial to the international supply chain and travel, even when other Chinese cities took harsh measures against the spread of COVID. Rather, Shanghai identified and targeted high-risk locations as small as a single milk tea shop. This precision allowed the city to keep infections under control while minimizing disruptions to the lives of its residents.

By early March, COVID cases were on the rise.

Ye Shen, a 17-year resident of Shanghai, commented, “If Shanghai had known that eventually the central government would stick to the zero-COVID policy, then they probably would not have adopted this strategy.”

Dissatisfied with Shanghai’s leniency, the central government interfered and replaced the local epidemic control team with national officials who did not understand the city as well as those from Shanghai. On March 27, Pudong, the eastern half of the city, entered lockdown. On April 1, Puxi, the western half, followed. Both were promised a brief lockdown period of four days.

As a result, nobody prepared for a prolonged lockdown. Most people did not stock up on food or other daily supplies. Many who visited Shanghai for medical attention or business trips suddenly found themselves unable to return home.

Even during the initial outbreak in Wuhan, delivery services were available, through which people could order food and medicine online. This is not the case in Shanghai, where all supplies and services–including those provided by hospitals and supermarkets–were cut off.

People around the country, bearing food and supplies, arrived in aid of Shanghai. However, with no delivery workers to transport the supplies to the doors of the Shanghainese, the supply chain collapsed. Food was left to rot while people went hungry, and volunteers who came to Shanghai hoping to help were trapped in the city.

“If my family had to rely on the supplies from the government, there’s no way that we could have survived,” said Shen.

The consequences were devastating. People died of starvation and treatable diseases, waiting for government supplies or permission to go to the hospital. A corgi was beaten to death in the street because its owner contracted COVID. A patient on the brink of death called for an ambulance, only to find that none would be available until the next evening. A six-year-old child with bone cancer, whose parents contracted COVID, waits for his cancer to spread throughout his body since chemotherapy is no longer available.

The difficult conditions, however, have sparked remarkable acts of collaboration and courage. When restaurants and supermarkets were not allowed to retail goods to individual customers, neighbors coordinated large group purchases. Shanghai residents banged pots and pans and shouted from their windows in a rare act of protest against the government. A video titled The Voice of April, featuring audio clips of people begging for supplies, medical attention, and the permission to return home, was circulated widely across Chinese social media.

“I’m proud of my fellow Shanghainese who are not afraid of voicing out some of [the] horrifying and inhuman conducts that have happened in the beginning of the lockdown,” says another Shanghai resident, who has asked to remain anonymous. “When the lockdown is to be lifted, I will go for a long walk and see my friend. I miss my freedom and more importantly social connections.”

Another reflection, which I will provide here in full, offers another perspective. The people of Shanghai are working tirelessly to deal with extreme restrictions as a response to a pandemic that still has no absolute conclusion. As a resident of Shanghai fortunate enough to be here in Massachusetts, I remain worried about my family and friends back home. I balance my privilege of being able to access all forms of media and commentary while here with the constrictions under which my family and friends have been living and will probably remain living for the indefinite future. If we can find a glimmer of hope for their future, and for the future of everybody, I believe it rests in listening to and understanding the voices of people still there, still trying to make sense of this tangled web of circumstance, grand design, and bureaucratic nightmares.

Early in the lockdown, my fellow Shanghainese citizen wrote:

The whole city is under lockdown. Shanghai is pretty empty now. The virus is Omicron and it’s mild, but the government is doing a really shitty job. We’re asked to be tested almost every day, which increases the bloody chance of getting infected. Infected people are sent to those cabin hospitals which is a joke itself. People are running low on food because food deliveries are limited and some districts are not equipped to distribute food to everyone. There are incidents where emergency/terminal patients are not allowed to leave their home or are being admitted to hospitals (which is also shut down). Lots of shit is going on here.

Later, she wrote in a tone that offered the smallest glimmer of hope amidst a situation that remains problematic:

“ Today marks the 58th day of the official lockdown in Shanghai. Though the city is still under lockdown but some neighborhoods with no new cases are distributed permits for residents to get out of their apartment for a few hours a day. “It’s like a prisoner getting a playground time.” A few of my friends who’ve successfully obtained permits joked about the ridiculous idea of the permit. Right now, I’m immune to anything that pertains to Covid policies in Shanghai anymore. My hope for the city re-opening is arising. The city’s April financial result which was just published was terrible, from – 60% to – 30% depending on industries. Fangcangs, temporary hospitals for Covid patients, are gradually closing down. The numbers that the city official publish are decreasing despite what the truth might be. Currently, we’re able to get enough food and water resources, (emergency) medical care, and most importantly the respect for human decency and rights.

. “Shanghai is getting pretty bad with the new COVID hit… I’m scared that if I were to test positive, I would be locked away.. I’m more worried about my Dad as he has to go to the hospital for work every day. We’re under strict lockdown for over 2 weeks now….I’m close to going out of my mind soon. Still under lockdown, but I feel at peace with the situation now. The number is dropping so hopefully the city will open up soon”

There never really seems to be any absolute “happy endings” in life these days, but there’s one to this story. Before 8:00 A.M. my time, on the morning of June 1, 2022, I received this hopeful message from my friend, whose story didn’t have much optimism up to this point:

“We’ve got freedom at last! The citywide lockdown was lifted 6/1 00:00!”