Tonight, as the clock strikes 12, the stream of foreigners arriving in China shall turn into a trickle of the privileged few. Those already in the country are facing a flood of both hostility and kindness, making 2020 into the year they shall not too soon forget.
In Stephen King’s 2009 epic, “Under the Dome”, an American town is inexplicably cut off from the outside world when an invisible barrier comes down on its borders. Those on the inside remain trapped and soon succumb to infighting. On the outside, those who left the town to run errands cannot return to the children or elderly they left behind. Others collided with the Dome as it came down.
We all know that Covid-19 does not discriminate. And we also all know that the green code from the “Su Kang Ma” (Jiangsu Health Code) app is now a requirement for all when going about many daily activities in Nanjing and indeed, almost all parts of China.
Some, it appears, didn’t get the memo.
Reports have emerged of shopping areas and golf courses banning foreigners. The Nanjinger has also heard about an “ayi” who, with news of the imported cases of Covid-19, quit her job with a foreign family. The irony, the family told The Nanjinger, is that this was the first ayi they had found in 10 years who can really cook.
Another foreigner has also told us he took a trip to nearby Anhui Province, where he was booked into a hotel in which he had stayed previously. Upon his arrival, hasty phone calls were made by the management, after which he was turned away.
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In The Nanjinger’s WeChat group chat, one member yesterday said, “My housing community has banned all foreigners even if they haven’t left China. I had to fight very hard just to get into my apartment. It’s very weird cause they aren’t really check temperatures or even wearing masks.
“My community lets its people leave and go as they choose now. The only people not allowed are foreigners”.
But then it’s quite normal to be afraid in these circumstances. Local people after all, are not immediately to know whether a foreigner has just arrived, or whether they have been in Nanjing the whole time, in possession of a valid green code.
During more normal times, the bulk of Nanjing people exhibit nothing but warmth and friendship for foreigners. The many who have been working overtime to assist foreigners as they return to Nanjing for their jobs should also not be forgotten.
The Xianlin area of Qixia District is Nanjing’s foreign hotspot. According to Nanjing Daily, more than 3,100 foreigners reside in Xianlin Sub District, including more than 1,000 South Koreans.
For every foreigner returning to Xianlin from abroad, a special WeChat group must be set up. Inside each group are representatives of the sub district, logistical staff, doctors, translators, etc. Amid all the confusion, they have together helped 684 foreigners to re assimilate into Nanjing, reported Nanjing Daily.
Outside the Dome, among the foreigners who had planned to be coming back are the teachers now stuck in other countries with their schools counting the days until reopening.
Prior to the Ministry’s of Foreign Affairs’ announcement that foreigners holding China visas shall no longer to be permitted entry to China beginning at midnight tonight, the authorities recommended students do not yet plan their return.
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Today, the British School of Nanjing revealed it has received approval to reopen on 7 April.
Announcements such as this will go some way towards offsetting the feelings of unease that now permeate Nanjing’s foreign community. Many already worry for the summer, wondering whether they will be able to return home to care for ailing relatives, or to address important legal or personal matters. Then there is the concern as to whether they can come back.
By way of further assistance, the Nanjing Foreign Affairs Office has set up two 24-hour hotlines for telephone inquiries from the city’s international community; (025) 68787300 and 68787321.
Ultimately, in King’s novel, the Dome is lifted by those who put it there, out of sympathy for the poor creatures who could not extract themselves from their self-created doom.
