« It’s a dystopia in real life »: an expatriate in Shanghai recounts the hell of confinement – Elle

They had first been told five days. A month and a half later, they are still there. Confined, monitored, rationed since April 1, 2022. The 25 million inhabitants of Shanghai can no longer take it. Géraldine Bordère, a French expatriate, has lived in the country’s economic capital for two and a half years with her husband and 4-year-old daughter. A simple calculation makes it possible to understand her ordeal: a China without Covid, she does not know. “Since we arrived, we have been living under a bell, blows the 39-year-old Frenchwoman. But it’s even worse now. »

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“I lose track of time”

Padlock on the door of his residence, drones broadcasting prevention messages, two Covid tests a day… “It has nothing to do with what you experienced in France, laments Géraldine. It’s a dystopia in real life. It’s been what, three months since she’s been out? No, 50 days. She no longer knows: “I’m losing track of time. »

It all started when the first cases of Covid were announced on TV. At the time, the city’s protocol was simple: those who tested positive were put in solitary confinement for 14 days and that was it. At the beginning of April, the government announced a national confinement of five days, then ten days, 20, 30: “The rules change every week. It’s been a month since there has been a positive case but we still have no idea when we will be released. »

As in a cell, a policeman keeps watch 24 hours a day in front of the entrance to his residence. Impossible to set foot outside. “But at least, in prison, we have the right to a one-hour ride”, ironically the Frenchwoman.

Peanuts, dumplings and fish

Faced with the total ban on leaving home, and therefore on shopping, the government has set up food deliveries. One day, Géraldine receives household products, the next week fruit. Yesterday was peanuts, frozen dumplings and fish. “It’s not bad that the government did that, concedes the expatriate. But the packages are not regular and they send us Chinese products, which we don’t always know how to cook. If we had to rely only on government rations, I think we would be a little hungry. »

Together with her neighbours, Géraldine invented a D system. Everyone takes turns placing an order for the entire building. It is a large residence with six buildings and more than 800,000 inhabitants. Via WeChat groups – the Chinese WhatsApp – of up to 500 people, they agree on what they need and then they share it: “If there is one advantage to this ordeal, it is solidarity that has arisen between us. »

Makeshift camps on the street

It is thanks to the delivery men that the Shanghainese can receive food. They are the only ones who make the city live. But at what cost ? “They sleep on the streets because they can’t go home. They would automatically be put in solitary confinement so they set up makeshift camps outside, there are small mattresses on the sidewalks. They are also obliged to be tested all the time, ”reports Géraldine.

For the past few days, the residents of the residence have obtained permission to go out for some fresh air in the shared garden. It’s a relief for this mother of a little girl in the middle section of kindergarten. “We meet neighbors, she finds her friends, tries to rejoice Géraldine. But they have a new scary game: they settle in the tent of the doctors who come every day to do PCRs for us, they line up and pretend to take tests. “My daughter is 4 years old, she has always lived with this pandemic”, she breathes, halfway between lucidity and exasperation.

Fortunately, Géraldine and her family are leaving in a month. “We are definitely going back,” she blurts out, not without emphasizing the last word. Their expatriation was planned to last three years. “We were supposed to leave at the end of July, we just brought forward our departure, tempers the Frenchwoman. We can no longer impose that on our daughter, or on us. »