Interesting times to live in China

[Shadow]

After nearly 2.5 months locked in I received a phone call at lunch time today

Appears uni classes kick back in tomorrow

All teachers are required to go to the govt hospital tomorrow at 9.30am for a virus test

NO STUDENTS are to be tested (way too many I am guessing)

The results will take about 4 to 5 days

BUT classes will commence right after the tests are complete

.... so someone could have the virus and show positive after 3 or 4 days yet already be in the room with students

OR

someone could be clean yet be in a room with students who are not

Buses and the subway are still an issue. Being told on the radio etc they are fine to use but the people answering the phone keep saying dont even think about using them

So I am just about to call my dept leader and inform him I wont be going back until the end of the term

Safer to sit back and watch what happens.

Hoping you all are safe and well

[Shadow]

Things here seem to be opening up if you go by the news.

But we are still being controlled by security (no police and army anymore) when entering or leaving our home area. I say we but its just my wife, as I am one of those foreign devils I still cant get outside the gate. I have been teaching here for over 15yrs and I get treated like I just arrived.

Some of you might have read about the trouble in a hospital in Wuhan the other day, I think I might even have written about it here. One lovely fella was in the hospital for a virus test and when it came up positive he went totally nuts and wanted out of the building. Last night I was lucky enough to view the hospital hall camera footage. The guy from Africa is built like a weight lifter, approx 20 staff members tried to stop him from (a) leaving and (b) assaulting staff members. It was mainly the female nurses who were on the end of his punching, kicking and ahhh biting. He left so many bite marks on faces...

Why am I mentioning this????

Well the end result is that of the 320,000 African people living in Wuhan, most have been turfed out of their rental homes (I think in the first article I only mentioned a few being treated like this). Even those married to locals have been booted out of their family home.
There is so much video footage on the phone apps showing police stop and searching them as they walk and even being chased down the street if they walk in more than 2 or 3.

The reason being pushed on the news is that many have over stayed their visa and police have decided to clean them out. Having been a police officer I can understand its part of the job to track down people who shouldnt be in the country but ahhh the videos show its being done very harshly

The feeling around all the apps is very very very anti black for the assaults on the nurses. Numerous photos are around of all the black people sleeping on the side walks as they have no place to go. Most of them are in China buying cheap items and sending them home for 3 or 4 times the cost. Good money to be made but the govt is now closing many of their companies down.

Now I get to the news items from last night where the USA and UK (and god forbid Australia) are demanding China pay them compensation as a result of the virus. Some articles even stating that if payment is not made Chinese companies will be seized to cover the costs.

My friend in the local police station called and informed me that it would be best if I stayed inside and wasnt being seen by anyone at this point in time. (this is why I am a little worried that Australia jumped on the request for money - people here know I am from Aust)

I have no idea where this is heading but I know these people, they wont pay money to others, they wont admit any guilt. (saving face is everything to these guys) If pushed, they will push back and that worries me a lot.

Lastly.... there are many people ingame who I havent seen playing for ages. I truly hope everyone is safe and well

take care all..

[mentlsback]

Shadow .. I spend most of my day split between playing CE and scanning All major (and minor) news sites. The first I've heard about the U.S., U.K. or Australia demanding restitution from China is from you. Yes, there is a lot of anger towards China all over the internet, but no headlines from political camps that I've seen as yet.
It could be something that the Chinese gov't wants the people to believe ?

[mentlsback]

Generally as far as official government statements ( that are presented to us in the west ) go China is being praised for its shipments of PPE eçt. to help fight the virus. Some shipments were returned as being defective or ' not up to standards ', but that might have more to do with the rush to provide help more than anything else. Yes, there are the comments on some sites that "It's the least China can do since they caused it all in the first place." However the more measured response ( at least what we are hearing from them ) is let's combat the virus first ... there'll be more than enough blame to pass around in all directions when this is over.

[Mechwarrior]

Hi mentlsback

Each item I refer to here in my postings comes from the news I see on the net here or from my police contacts.
The reference to the countries asking for money was from the news - CCTV 1 direct from Beijing

I have seen many about the defective items sent out... also one where a Chinese company sold needed items to Italy and then it went crazy in the news when it was found they were the same items that Italy had donated to China.

Living here I have seen just about everything - both good and bad.

[Coops]

Glad to see after all this time your still healthy and not gone mad with the isolation. Best wishes to you and your immediate family in China and of course those abroad around the world. Been good reading your posts over the last few months keeping up with what's actually being said and reported from behind the Chinese GFW.

Coops

[Mechwarrior]

The world just became smaller

In my Province (Henan) 5 yrs ago we had approx 400 foreign people. In my city (Zhengzhou) we had approx 200 foreign people.
According to my police contact ther is now only 15 foreign people in my city.

Over the last 6 yrs I have had a great guy from the UK as a work mate. (cant believe how much he likes to drink - like a fish)

Around 11.30pm last night he gave me a goodbye call.

Seems the Uk has decided to remove as many people as they can - He was informed by his embassy in Beijing yesterday that if he and his Chinese wife travelled to Beijing asap they would convert her travel visa (lucky its still current) into a green card. So they both took the overnight fast train to Beijing.

very happy for him.... now my university has no foreign teachers - I am not going back until after the summer holiday. want to be sure its safe in the lecture room

hope you all are holding up in these crazy times

[mentlsback]

I can't offer up any really good advice seeing that I'm half a world away and sitting beside a fridge stocked with cold beer and steaks, but it might be worth thinking about " getting the hell outta Dodge " asap ?

[Mechwarrior]

Game Changer or Game Over?????

Approx 2 yrs ago here, to log into a phone app/internet you needed your real govt issued id. People went nuts and VPNs became gold as everyone tried to get around the extension to the Great fire Wall.

But now.... now, they have gone tooooooo far

News just in direct from Beijing (I told you I only post here what comes from the news)

All guilds, clans etc on video games with foreign players will be BANNED on Chinese servers.

All games will require a real id to log in

After discord was blocked here I thought my game was over. But I decided to keep going and just send a PM if something was urgent. The guild and others in game were on another plane I couldnt reach.

But this... this is nearly total control. No more little comments about the govt or you will receive the knock on the door at 2am (Yes it happens)

[Mechwarrior]

For those who cant understand why I posted this on the virus topic

There are so many comments on the mainland floating around about where it came from and why

Young uni students in Hong Kong are becoming heated again - Taiwan is moving so far away that 3 days ago the Chinese naval fleets in the South China Sea (there are 2 fleets) headed towards the island.

With everything going on, the govt had decided to break out the big boots and start stepping on heads. Even multi millionaries who say too much are disappearing (again)

Now, if you comment on the virus you receive a flashing red notice on your phone. If you try to send a pic along with any words with virus/wuhan your account is flagged and locked until cleared.

Controlling those on game chat boards is just the next step.