Under China's 'zero COVID,' uncertainty reigns and unsettles
As coronavirus cases rose in Shanghai earlier this year and the city’s lockdown stretched from weeks to months, Leah Zhang’s feeling of suffocation grew
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — As coronavirus cases rose in Shanghai earlier this year and the city's lockdown stretched from weeks to months, Leah Zhang’s feeling of suffocation grew.
Though she could walk around campus freely, she was robbed of weekends spent seeing concerts in the city. She couldn’t stomach the cafeteria food — too sweet for her taste buds accustomed to the spicy Sichuanese cuisine she grew up with.
When her boyfriend told her he would “always trust” Shanghai’s government, she broke up with him. After censors took down a video compilation called Voices of April with some of the most defining moments of the lockdown, including crying infants being separated from their parents during quarantine, Zhang broke down.
“I cried to the point where I can’t trust anything anymore," said Zhang, who asked to be identified by her English name out of fear of government retribution for discussing a sensitive topic. "I can only trust myself, I can’t trust anyone else, or any government.”
