Dining in underground restaurants, drinking in secret bars only publicized by word of mouth and hiding Covid symptoms: some Beijing residents are defying the tight restrictions on movement of people that persist in the Chinese capital, while the regime temporarily relaxes some measures of control of the pandemic.
“It was very secretive, you couldn’t see the lights on the second floor from the outside,” said a resident who visited a clandestine restaurant.
She found the place on Xiaohongshu – the Chinese equivalent of Instagram – while looking for places to eat in Beijing. According to her, the establishment was full.
“I was very happy to eat out, but at the same time I felt like I had to fight an underground battle,” she said, asking to remain anonymous.
China is facing a tipping point in its response to the virus, after maintaining tight restrictions that were successful in containing initial outbreaks, but which have continued to fuel widespread public resentment.
After the country’s biggest protests in decades, several cities, including Beijing, have begun to ease testing requirements, while state media has begun to downplay the risks of the virus.
This flexibility encouraged some residents to bend the rules, with news of restaurants and cafes offering dinner service – banned in much of the capital – circulating on social media and attracting hundreds of likes.
An expatriate who asked not to be identified told the AFP news agency that he recently ate a lamb stew at another underground restaurant.
“The staff wouldn’t let me in and said they were only doing takeout,” he says.
“But when I told them friends were already upstairs, they winked and told me to scan my QR code.”
Another migrant living in Beijing told AFP that he watched a World Cup match at a closed nightclub that organizes clandestine exhibitions, to which guests are invited only through word of mouth.
After a labyrinthine journey through a neighboring hotel and through a parking lot to reach the club, which was locked from the outside, he found people without masks discreetly watching the game inside.
“It was surreal to go through all these obstacles,” he says.
A Beijing food blogger who recently posted about a visit to a secret open bar said he is tired of the situation.
“I really can’t take it anymore. I hope they reopen as soon as possible,” said the blogger, surnamed Sui.
Two of those interviewed also believe they have contracted Covid in recent days, as they had a fever and cough, but refused to take the PCR test that would lead them to confinement or, even worse, to quarantine centers.
Last week, some communities in the downtown Chaoyang district began quietly allowing Covid-positive residents to quarantine at home, a change from previous rules.
One of them said that he felt “a little rebellious”, but he thought it was better to recover at home, without having to stay in collective places and that his contacts were traced. đŸ‡§đŸ‡·
“I know that people who have tested positive for Covid can be quarantined at home now,” another resident said. “I don’t want the government to know if I got Covid or not.”
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This Tuesday (6), residents of the Chinese capital were allowed to enter parks, supermarkets, offices, the subway and airports without the obligation to present a negative Covid test, in the latest of the easing measures that have been adopted. across the country after the unprecedented protests against the strict Covid zero policy.
“Beijing prepares for life again,” reads the headline in state-run China Daily, adding that people are “gradually embracing” the new freedoms.
Some people, worried the virus could spread more quickly as restrictions were eased, rushed to buy pharmacy tests and fever pills, prompting market regulators to issue warnings against price hikes.
Both city airports also no longer require people to test themselves to enter the terminal, state media reported, although there was no indication of a change in the rule to submit a negative test before boarding a flight.
The loosening of rules follows a series of protests last month that marked the biggest display of public discontent in mainland China since leader Xi Jinping took power in 2012.
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