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Keep Calm and Carry on

JanJal (1243 posts) • 0

Up in the mountains where I am (stuck for third week now), recent develoment is that entry to the nearest town is now restricted to 2 hours every morning. That's where all shopping is done.

We still haven't needed to butcher the last pig, and there are still plenty of chickens.

This is a place so small that you cannot find trusted source (online or at all) other than going in person.

JanJal (1243 posts) • +2

Also something that probably happens all the time, but which I have not witnessed in my previous (numerous) visits is that trapping and bbqing squirrels has become something of a fashion now.

Trumpster (84 posts) • +1

The irony. The virus came about from procuring exotic game meat. To contain the disease, policies are implemented which in turn, forces far flung villagers to get creative with their protein source out of desperation.

DanDare (141 posts) • +1

@Janjal. ask in the village if they used to eat squirrel in the old days. I think the answer will be, yes. Squirrels are rodents, not really exotic, and similar to rabbit.

EddyC (36 posts) • +1

@JanJal

We hear you. 3rd to 4th tier cities under lockdown restrictions don't get much airtime, let alone remote villages. Sometimes WeChat friends' circles may be reliable news sources in cutoff backwoods. Word of mouth hearsay, like the good old days of our ancestors.

I hope you've touched based with your Finland embassy or consulate. Let them know your GPS location in case this drags out longer than the chickens & Babe.

On the bright side, at least you guys are free to move about every morning. More lax than other communities I personally follow (业主群) in outer provinces.

Reuters and SCMP (proxy) have reported stricter community lockdown measures for cities like Tianjin, Beijing, Wenzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo and Taizhou. To say nothing of cities in Hubei province near epicenter of Wuhan.

"Authorities in Zhejiang... have closed 'unessential' public venues, banned funerals and weddings, limited the number of times people can go out and quarantined families at home, sometimes by locking them in.

... each household is being issued a 'passport', usually a piece of paper that carries one’s name, home address and an official stamp. Only one person per household is permitted to leave their home every two days."

www.scmp.com/[...]

"China’s northern city of Tianjin began on Thursday restricting the entry and exit of people from residential compounds and villages to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the official People’s Daily reported.

Tianjin is following the example of several other major cities including Beijing in enacting these restrictions."

www.reuters.com/[...]

For now, Kunming has yet to impose "draconian" lockdown enforcement. Has anyone in Kunming experienced differently for their residential community?

herenow (357 posts) • +1

Neighborhood report from this afternoon -- nothing as interesting as trapping and bbqing squirrels, but here goes.... All grocery stores, corner stores and pharmacies open, 95% of other businesses closed. Stores were generally well-stocked, albeit with a few more gaps on the shelves than usual. Foot traffic more than I expected, probably around 30-40% of normal. 99.9% of people wearing masks, just one jogger without. Keycard-activated gates to xiaoqu chained shut, guards were scanning foreheads with temperature guns at main entrances.

Note: To be on the safe side, consider taking your temperature before you go out if your home has gated access control.

DanDare (141 posts) • 0

Wow, even with so much information available you still manage to miss some info and provide misinformation by omission. Well done.

JanJal (1243 posts) • 0

@DanDare: "if they used to eat squirrel in the old days. I think the answer will be, ye"

No doubt. As I wrote, the practise could have been going on all the time, just avoiding my sight. Perhaps in these particular families it is a recently (re)acquired taste, rather than even necessity. Game meat of any sort is not a common dish in these parts, unlike perhaps in the meat markets in Wuhan epicenter for example.

But IF it has become a degree of necessity locally, then perhaps it creates a sort of circular reference to that very epicenter.

Many stranger (to outside observers) dishes, which may be considered delicacies in local cultures, are products of creativity from times of famine. Not only in China too, though China's experiences with that do not go very far back in comparison to famines in developed countries.

EddyC (36 posts) • 0

@herenow, sounds more or less right. My understanding is that said pharmacies, grocery stores or minimarts, and supermarkets are required to open, though opening hours may be truncated.

More traffic may pick up when "non-essential businesses can resume" on Monday.

www.gokunming.com/[...]

I hope the good citizens continue to don masks and take extra precautions next week.

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