Coronavirus - those in China, and general discussion

[arreke]

https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1190101.shtml

What kind of visas did they use to enter China?

[mungouk]

According to the IATA Timatic database, since 28 March they have been issuing work visas according to this criterion:

 

Quote

Foreign nationals coming to the mainland of China for necessary economic, trade, scientific or technological activities or out of emergency humanitarian needs may apply for visas at Chinese embassies or consulates.

 

[Jianada]

4 hours ago, arreke said:

https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1190101.shtml

What kind of visas did they use to enter China?

They might be using their original work permit/residence visa. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce is doing a survey to determine who would like to get back into the country ASAP. The article says "The flight was jointly arranged by the German Chamber of Commerce, German diplomatic missions in China, and Lufthansa."

http://www.cancham.asia/news/covid19-help-canadians-to-enter-back-into-china/

They'll probably only let executives in, but Canadian Chamber of Commerce survey includes options for students and English teachers. 

[mungouk]

10 hours ago, Jianada said:

They might be using their original work permit/residence visa.

 

This is the full text for Mainland China from the IATA Timatic database.  My reading is that any visas or residence permits issued before 28 March stopped being accepted (temporarily), but in theory foreigners were able to apply for new visas after this date.

 

That's if you can find somewhere to apply for one... certainly in the UK all the visa application centres have been closed since 27 March, and the Chinese consulates aren't processing any visa applications or legalisation of documents.

 

 

Quote

Published 11.05.2020
1. The mainland of China has decided to temporarily suspend the entry into the mainland of China by foreign nationals holding visas or residence permits still valid to the time of this announcement, effective from 00:00 local time, 28 March 2020. Entry by foreign nationals with APEC Business Travel Cards will be suspended as well.
- Policies including port visas, 24/72/144-hour visa-free transit policy, Hainan 30-day visa-free policy, 15-day visa-free policy specified for foreign cruise-group-tour through Shanghai Port, Guangdong 144-hour visa-free policy specified for foreign tour groups from Hong Kong or Macao SAR, and Guangxi 15-day visa-free policy specified for foreign tour groups of ASEAN countries will also be temporarily suspended. Entry with diplomatic, service, courtesy or C visas will not be affected.
- Foreign nationals coming to the mainland of China for necessary economic, trade, scientific or technological activities or out of emergency humanitarian needs may apply for visas at Chinese embassies or consulates.
- Entry by foreign nationals with visas issued after this announcement will not be affected.
2. All passengers arriving at PEK will have a PCR test and be quarantined at the designated location in Beijing for 14 days.
3. Passengers arriving at Shanghai Pudong (PVG) or Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA) must undergo a Nucleic Acid Test (NAT) and a 14-day quarantine in designated places for medical observation.
4. Passengers who live in or have been in France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Japan, Korea (Rep.), Spain or USA in the past 14 days arriving at Guangzhou (CAN) or Shenzhen (SZX) must undergo 14-day quarantine at home or in designated places for medical observation. All passengers arriving at SZX will have a PCR test.
5. All passengers arriving at XMN will be quarantined for medical observation at the designated hotels for 14 days on their own expenses.
- This does not apply to passengers under 18 years old, passengers above 70 years old, pregnant women and passengers suffering from illness. They must apply for permission to undergo a 14-day quarantine at home.
6. Airline crew of foreign airlines:
- are not required to undergo nucleic acid test if they have a short stay after landing then depart immediately, and do not leave apron during the transition; OR
- shall receive nucleic acid test in the first port of entry if they need to enter the country to rest or continue to operate domestic routes. The test results will be confirmed by the local government in accordance with the requirements of epidemic prevention management. Only if the test results are negative, crews can continue the operations; OR
- are allowed to return to their home country for isolation treatment when agreed by the local joint control mechanism, if they are symptomatic, in close contact with infected persons or tested positive. Airlines and crews shall make all commitments to bear their responsibilities and also carry out strict protections.

 

[suMMit]

Does anyone know the current situation with Beijing hotels? I'm planning to spend a week in Tianjin(I'm in country already) at the end of the month at someones apartment, but I would like to spend a few nights in Beijing. I'm not sure if they're accepting foreigners now?

[arreke]

50 minutes ago, suMMit said:

I'm in country already

 

Do you happen to be one of these lucky guys?

News about first Germany-China return flight - https://youtu.be/U1j58QAT57A

 

[roddy]

It's preferable not to post Youtube and similar blocked links without at least explaining what it is a little, so people in China can decide if they need to turn a VPN on or whatever. 

[mungouk]

Regarding these "green channels" that have been mentioned in the past couple of weeks, the Straits Times reports on the arrangement that's just been announced between Singapore, with effect from 8 June.

 

It's hardly unencumbered travel, and it seems squarely aimed at business travellers... you need "approval from the authorities" and a detailed itinerary, you have have to do Covid swab tests at source and destination, and self-isolate 1-2 days after arrival until the test result is known.

 

It's a step in the right direction I guess, even if it is a very small one.

 

Approved travellers on new Singapore-China 'fast lane' need not serve quarantine but must do Covid-19 swab tests

(Straits Times, June 4)

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/new-rules-including-covid-19-pre-departure-and-post-arrival-tests-set-for-essential

[suMMit]

Update on my previous question: I called a couple hotels in 北京 and they said i need a negative covid test within 7 days of check in.

[StChris]

For some reason my laptop stopped recognising my phone, so I haven't uploaded anything in a while. Now I'm just uploading the photos directly from my phone and then doing the writing on my PC. These photos are from April.

 

There is a huge screen at the intersection near my place. During April it was used to thank the medical volunteers from Harbin who went to help Wuhan. It's now back to normal, carrying advertising for milk, job searching websites etc: 

 

 

Typical entry at a market, with volunteers taking temperatures and the details of the older people without Wechat:

 

 

These large signs encouraging good personal hygiene were pretty much everywhere (actually, I believe they are still around now). 横幅 are a pretty common sight at all times, but the message has changed from the 扫黑除恶 ones we got before the epidemic:

 

 

There's a local park where the old people hang out, and the outside barbers were already back to business in April:

 

 

 

[StChris]

More photos from April.

 

We had some beautiful cherry blossoms blooming in our 小区 in April (unfortunately, they didn't last long, but we have some nice wild flowers now):

 

 

After the long lockdown, jet skiers blow off steam on the Songhua river:

 

 

Despite the terrible consequences for some, I suspect many Chinese kids are having the best spring/summer of their young lives in 2020. My 小区 is full of kids on bikes and roller blades (usually with one of more parent/grandparent chasing from behind), whereas in normal times they would be in school studying. This scene is a little more unusual though - three unaccompanied kids on the street just doing their own thing (they were taking turns poking sticks into the gap under the stairs). Reminds me a bit of my own childhood:

 

 

A picture of the inside of that market from the previous post. The big shopping malls don't have this kind of hung plastic, so it has probably been taken down here too by now: 

 

[mungouk]

5 hours ago, StChris said:

 横幅 are a pretty common sight at all times, but the message has changed from the 扫黑除恶 ones we got before the epidemic:

 

Are the 横幅 usually blue, or is that colour for the health-related ones?  This is Harbin right?

[StChris]

1 hour ago, mungouk said:

Are the 横幅 usually blue, or is that colour for the health-related ones?  This is Harbin right?

 

Yes, it's Harbin. I'm pretty sure they are usually red. I wasn't aware of any colour-coding, but it's possible that blue is for health-related messages (I'll pay more attention next time I'm out).

[abcdefg]

That's beginning to look a whole lot more like daily life, especially with the outdoor barbers and outdoor chair massage people. Soon you will see old men writing big-brush poems on the sidewalk with water for ink. 

 

Thanks for these shots!

[xinoxanu]

10 hours ago, StChris said:

It's now back to normal, carrying advertising for milk,

 

哈哈

 

Gotta love this country just for things like this. 

[StChris]

  

19 hours ago, abcdefg said:

That's beginning to look a whole lot more like daily life, especially with the outdoor barbers and outdoor chair massage people. Soon you will see old men writing big-brush poems on the sidewalk with water for ink.

 

Here are some more up to date photos (from yesterday).

 

Although I haven't been keeping up with the news so much recently, I did hear about Chinese Premier 李克强 and his idea of loosening the rules on street stalls in order to help the economy recover from the lockdown. I've only really started exploring outside again in the past few days (Harbin was kind of semi locked down again in April and May after another small outbreak) and that 地摊经济 policy is in full view. Normally the area outside my apartment complex is pretty free of hawkers, but now a mini street market has sprung up. I was both surprised and pleased to see one selling my DongBei favourite, 锅包肉, and bought 20 yuan's worth (which got me a large box). They actually have a proper restaurant just down the road, but I guess people don't want to eat in so much these days. Like everyone I happen to strike up a casual conversation with recently, the number one topic he wanted to talk about was the situation in the US:

 

 

I was happy to see the 烧烤 places open again. As you can see, in Harbin the real men don't settle for the Beijing bikini look, but instead just take the whole shirt off:

 

 

This one is actually from April. It's just a typical little mini-market. I was glad to notice that most of them had reopened, so it doesn't seem that too many places have gone under as a result of the epidemic and subsequent lockdown. The only exception I've noticed is unfortunately one of my favourite restaurants, a delicious Muslim place.

 

 

I forgot about this better picture of the kids from an earlier post. God knows what they were looking for under that little staircase. You can see a few school uniforms around these days (I believe it's just 中三 and 高三 students), but a teacher I spoke to doesn't think the rest of the students will be able to fully go back until October (in Harbin, anyway):

 

 

Pretty much anyone who isn't eating is still wearing a mask, but apart from that things seem to be fairly normal. I would guess that my local mall is seeing only around half of the people who would normally be there at any one time, so I imagine the retail and food sectors are still experiencing a lot of pain. My gym was completely empty when it first re-opened in April. I haven't been there recently due to an expired membership. It doesn't seem worth it to get a new one when they could be closed down again at a moment's notice. 

[roddy]

@StChris I split your question into a new topic, as I thought it deserved one. Everyone, go and read it. 

[zander1]

Anyone in Beijing? Looks like there has been an outbreak in a wholesale market causing some localized shutdowns. How are things there now? 

[Shelley]

There is this- 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-53034924

[ChTTay]

16 hours ago, zander1 said:

Anyone in Beijing? Looks like there has been an outbreak in a wholesale market causing some localized shutdowns. How are things there now

Yes, they found one guy originally then they tracked 2 more. Finally, they tested everyone related to this market in Fengtai district and found about 45 People testing positive (But still without symptoms at that time). 
 

They then closed down another big market in Shunyi as a precaution (I think) and stopped the sale of imported produce. Last I heard they’re blaming imported fish or meat products for the outbreak. I couldn’t get smoked salmon in a restaurant yesterday as they weren’t allowed to sell it. 
 

We were originally set to welcome kids back Monday (I teach G1 at an Intl school) but that has been postponed. Sporting events have been postponed and I think some gyms closed again. I imagine Fengtai will be the most affected with closures and restrictions. 
 

edit: Salmon getting mentioned a lot. Some restaurants just aren’t serving any fish or seafood at the moment.