Shanghai, the “Showpiece” of China’s economy, had been shut down for 18 days since 28th March. Despite the rising anger of the food shortages, many still survived with courage and faith. Local neighborhood committees play a crucial role in giving food and medicines from time to time to 23 million who are locked at home, due to food shortages in Shanghai amid the strict lockdown. However, they will not be able to choose what kind of food they want. Instead, they eat whatever was given by local neighborhood committees due to severe food shortages currently happening in Shanghai.
In addition, “group buying” through local committees, and people sending spare food to each other by hiring high-price delivery drivers (between RMB 100-400 per delivery), are also the most common ways for Shanghai residents to source food during this difficult time.
Here, 3 Shanghai local residents located in Jingan and Xuhui Districts, kindly accepted my interviews and revealed their unusual life experiences of overcoming food shortages amid the Covid lockdown in Shanghai.
Mike Chong: “My food storage can only cover for another 5 days, then I’ll have to eat rice with some soy sources.”
Mike Chong, a freelance photographer located in Xuhui District. “My food storage will only last for another 5 days. I have some rice, flour, and a small amount of vegetables and meat. 5 days after I will have to eat soy source with rice, which I don’t mind. Don’t forget I used to be a soldier at the People’s Liberation Army Navy in China when I was 18-year-old, I am good at surviving in any harsh environments.”
“I don’t want to spend time snapping up food. I instead focus on my work and doing exercise at home. As a photographer, although I couldn’t go out and shoot photos for clients, I can still earn money by introducing business and projects to other photographers in Beijing to make commissions. ” Says the 36-year-old.
Mike sent me an image of a bag of food including some potatoes on the 14th of April and asked me not to worry about him, “I often received food these couple of days from my friends.”
However, the food packages he received were not good enough to save his cat. On 15th April, Mike posted on social media saying “My newborn cat died due to lack of food. This is crucial. I’m sorry, I couldn’t provide enough food and nutrition to my cat amid Covid lockdown, I wish him in heaven right now without experiencing the pandemic outbreak.”
Carina Liu: “I made cakes using due-to-expire bananas. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”
“I saw a video where around 50-100 patients were dancing in Covid-19 hospitals and being watched by securities wearing white Covid gears. Children were chasing each other and playing around in hospitals. How come those people with symptoms are having fun, but we healthy people have to stay at home isolated?”
“People don’t mind staying at home is not because they are afraid of having Omicron. Instead, people are scared of being sent to Covid hospitals because of the extremely poor condition of those hospitals. Imagine 1000 Covid patients sharing 1 room, how do they sleep? If they couldn’t have enough sleep, their immune systems will be weak. How do they recover?” Says the 29-year-old.
“Last night I cooked spicy coconut shrimp, beef-tomato stir fry, and some vegetables. I also made some cakes using bananas to expire as deserts. When life throws a lemon, you definitely made lemonade out of it. “
“We can’t get any ‘non-essential’ food such as coffee capulets and fresh milk. Such material shortages make me feel like we live in China’s 60s.” Carina concludes.
Grace Jim: “I try to stay exquisite as I always am. I stocked up coffee beans before food.”
Grace is a Shanghai-born digital content creator located in the Puxi district. She couldn’t secure food and groceries through the “Group buy” app because there haven’t enough residents within her local neighborhood to “Group buy.” “My best friend is a delivery driver. He purchases food for me for free, when normally each driver charges delivery fees from RMB 100 to 300 per job.”
“My local neighborhood committee gives out food and medicines, spontaneously. Yesterday, I received one pack of Chinese medicines to prevent getting the flu. I was wondering, can we have some food? I am still thankful for receiving at least something from the neighborhood committee during the lockdown, as other neighborhood communities didn’t give anything to their residents.”
On the 6th day of Grace’s lockdown life, she didn’t feel anything anxious except wanting to go out for a walk. “I feel quite peaceful about being trapped at home, I got lots to do every day.” Grace demonstrates.
“My flatmate works as a volunteer in our local community, and her job is to arrange Covid-tests for residents. She gets free vegetables and a small amount of meat as benefits of being a volunteer. It’s hard to tell what kind of food she was given. For example, 2 weeks ago, she brought half chicken and some duck meat back home, and yesterday she was given only cucumbers. I am so thankful that she is willing to share her benefits with me; on the other hand, I have no idea how to make a meal with only cucumbers.”
The 29-year-old seems good at coping with the pressure of food shortages. Shanghai, the city’s exquisite nature seems to allow the local-born to indulge themselves even in pandemic crises. “I am a coffee-lover, so I stocked up Moka Pot, espresso capsule before buying food.”
After more than 3-weeks of isolation, Grace revealed, “Looking at how the Shanghai government managed to control the Covid outbreak, as a Shanghai native resident, I’m so disappointed in my homeland.”
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