Shanghai is back in business. Not quite though, but that’s what authorities might have us believe. And of course it has come with a tremendous economic loss, not least that of an entire season. Marking the day, 50 photos from 50 days of lockdown.
At 07:57 yesterday, 6 May, Juneyao Airlines flight HO1145 took off from Shanghai Pudong International Airport to Longyan Guanzhishan Airport in Fujian Province. It was the first flight out of Shanghai since the lockdown began and, in another stroke of good luck, its departure was 3 minutes early.
5月6日昨天7点57分，吉祥航空HO1145航班从上海浦东国际机场起飞，飞往福建省龙岩观指山机场。这是封城以来第一架从上海起飞的航班，幸运的是，它提前了 3 分钟起飞。
The first flight came soon on the heels of the announcement that Shanghai had “achieved the restoration of the face of society” (实现社会面清零) in 15 out of the city’s 16 districts.
在上海宣布16个区中的15个区“实现社会面清零”之后，首航很快就开始了。
It had coincidentally also been exactly 50 days since the first stage of lockdown was applied to Pudong, Punan and adjacent areas. Puxi followed on 1 April.
巧合的是，距离浦东、浦南及周边地区实施第一阶段封城也刚好50天。浦西紧随其后的是 4 月 1 日。
While those 50 days might catch the eye of conspiracy theorists, they also provide for a fitting “50 photos from 50 days” portrait of Shanghai’s most challenging days since the Second World War. Except this time around of course, the enemy is invisible.
虽然这 50 天可能会引起阴谋论者的注意，但它们也提供了一幅恰当的“50 天的 50 张照片”，描绘了上海自第二次世界大战以来最具挑战性的日子。当然，除了这一次，敌人是看不见的。
And that Juneyao airlines flight? It, also fittingly, is the final image in the 50-photo portrait. Among the many others are the poignant; the emergency medical team from Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital taking of a huge group photo on The Bund on Nurses Day, 12 May. They stand defiant along one of the world’s most famous and historical waterfronts.
那吉祥航空的航班呢？它也是 50 张照片肖像中的最后一张照片。其中有许多令人心酸的； 5月12日护士节，浙江省人民医院急救医疗队在外滩合影留念。他们矗立在世界上最著名、历史最悠久的海滨之一。
In true Shanghai style, there is also a nice shot of residents in a locked-down community picking up an enormous group buy of hamburgers.
在真正的上海风格中，还有一个很好的镜头，即封锁社区中的居民拿起大量汉堡包的团购。
Then of course there are the empty streets, the empty shelves of a Carrefour, citizens peering forlornly from their apartments, the paltry government-supplied pack of food intended to sustain a whole family, and those lines, the never ending lines of people waiting for a nucleic-acid test.
当然，还有空荡荡的街道、家乐福空荡荡的货架、公寓里绝望地凝视的市民、政府提供的微不足道的食品包，旨在维持整个家庭的生活，还有那些排队等待核酸检测的人们永无休止的队伍。
The majority of the “50 photos from 50 days” are credited to Shanghai-based media outlet, The Paper. All can be viewed in chronological order on that publication’s website via this link.
“50天内的50张照片”中的大部分都来自上海媒体澎湃新闻。所有内容都可以通过此链接在该出版物的网站上按时间顺序查看。
Now back to that bizarre statement about restoring the face of society. What does that mean in reality for the residents of Shanghai? Not a lot, it turns out, as The Nanjinger discovered when it spoke today with its Chinese tea columnist, Matthew Stedman, now based in Shanghai.
现在回到关于恢复社会面貌的奇怪声明。这对上海居民来说实际上意味着什么？正如《南京人》今天与现居上海的中国茶专栏作家马修·斯特德曼交谈时发现的那样，事实证明，并不多。
Stedman says, “Leaving the compound for an hour is possible, but not with wheels (bikes, electric bikes) and not with children. So we haven’t tried that. Other compounds, I’ve heard, have guards who are more relaxed, even though the rules are essentially the same. Basically, most of us here are living a life that is restricted to the compound only. But that’s much better than being restricted to the apartment only (as we were for much of April)”.
斯特德曼说：“离开院落一个小时是可以的，但不能带着轮子（自行车、电动自行车），也不能带着孩子。所以我们还没有尝试过。我听说，其他院落的警卫更放松，尽管规则基本上是一样的。基本上，我们这里的大多数人都过着仅限于院落的生活。但这比只被限制在公寓里（就像我们四月份的大部分时间那样）要好得多”。
Stedman also points to a “leaking” of students from Shanghai. Many of those far from finishing their semesters are headed home to continue learning online, while enjoying a bit of mum’s cooking.
斯特德曼还指出上海学生的“泄露”。许多尚未完成学期的学生都回家继续在线学习，同时享受妈妈做的饭菜。
“Food delivery choices are less raw than they were a fortnight ago. We’re still looking forward to our first KFC. We’ve had two pizzas already. [But] we’re still viewing big delivery markups and price-hikes as a symptom of lockdown.
“与两周前相比，食品配送的选择不再那么原始。我们仍然期待着我们的第一家肯德基。我们已经吃了两个披萨。[但是]我们仍然将大幅的配送加价和价格上涨视为封锁的症状。
“Another reason for not choosing to leave the compound is that bugger-all else has been open. But that really is changing. The streets around us are still empty; all the businesses still unlit. But we are aware of real supermarket openings in the past few days.”
“不选择离开大院的另一个原因是，其他地方都已经开门营业了。但这确实正在发生变化。我们周围的街道仍然空荡荡；所有的商店都还没有亮灯。但我们知道过去几天里真正的超市开业了。”
Welcome back, Shanghai. Kind of.
欢迎回来，上海。有点儿。
