Welcome to RealTime Mandarin—a multimedia resource to immerse you in the latest Chinese language trends, inspire you to practice and improve your Mandarin every week, and empower you to communicate with confidence.
This week we discuss two articles about covid lockdowns and quarantine in China.
The first is by Xuē Liángquán (薛良权), a US-based Chinese lawyer and founder of Newbright Law Group, a law firm in California. Xue documents his surreal experience (in Chinese) on his Wechat account of being quarantined for three-months in China on his way to visit his family in Shandong.
Shortly after he first landed in Guangzhou on 1 January, Xue tested positive for covid, which was the beginning of a series of stays in quarantine hotels in Guangzhou and Shanghai. He eventually left the country exactly three-months later on 1 April, not able to visit his family.
He sums up his three-month ordeal:
这三个月的魔幻之旅，我好像从孩童来到了暮年。人活着就是要有希望的，大的小的远的近的。如果一个个希望不断破碎，然后又有新的希望升起，然后又破碎，循环往复，这才是最折磨人的
My experience of that surreal three months is like being transported from being a child to being in old age. People need hope to survive, no matter how small or large. If hope is taken away from you, and then another feeling of hope comes back, and is then shattered again, over and over again, it can be really painful.
The second is a post is by Chairman Rabbit (兔主席 tù zhǔxí) in which he gives his interpretation of China’s dynamic zero covid policy (动态清零 dòngtài qīng líng):
疫情防控既定的方针政策不变，社会全面动态清零不变的方向
The established guidelines and policies for pandemic prevention and control remain unchanged, and so is the policy direction of zero covid in the whole of society.
I’ve collated my favourite five words and phrases from these two articles, and gone into more depth in consuming the conversation. There's more practice reading, links and classics in the final section.
The Favourite Five
1. 毕业 bì yè
graduate, get out of quarantine
从广州八院顺利毕业后，被转移到广州南沙医院继续医学观察14天 - After successfully graduating from Guangzhou No. 8 Hospital, I was transferred to Guangzhou Nansha Hospital to continue medical observation for 14 days.
Note: also a common phrase for getting the sack or being laid-off (see last week’s newsletter)
2. 听上面 tīng shàngmiàn
listen to what I’m told from above
我索要疾控的报告，但是他们说没有报告，他们都是听上面的通知，说你有问题就有问题 - I asked for the Disease Control Centre’s report, but they said there wasn’t one. They take orders from above. If there’s a problem then there’s a problem.
3. 恍如隔世 huǎng rú gé shì
it’s like another world
当时感觉恍如隔世，好像自己来到了另外一个世界，预感不妙 - It was like entering a different world, as if I was on another planet. It felt ominous.
4. 鸳鸯封城大法 yuānyāng fēng chéng dàfǎ
duck hot pot lockdown, partial lockdown of Shanghai
上海发布鸳鸯封城大法，我也了解到上海疫情已经全面爆发，并流窜各地 - When shanghai announced its partial lockdown, I saw that the outbreak in Shanghai had already taken hold and spread to other cities.
Note: mandarin duck hotpot (鸳鸯火锅 yuānyāng huǒguō) is a half-spicy, half-mild hotpot, with a divider down the middle separating the two pools of broth. Some Shanghai residents used it to describe the city’s COVID-19 partial lockdown where the eastern districts were put into lockdown first, followed by the western part.
More: See John Pasden’s excellent ARC Substack newsletter for more on this meme and other social media reactions during the early part of Shanghai’s lockdown.
5. 开弓没有回头箭 kāi gōng méiyǒu huítóu jiàn
once you’ve shot the arrow there’s no getting it back
中国对新冠病毒真的动态调整“放开”，开弓就没有回头箭，我们只有一次机会 - For China to truly open up and lift its zero covid policy, once the arrow is fired there’s no getting it back. China only has one chance to get it right.
Consuming the conversation
Useful words
魔幻 mó huàn
surreal
我在中国三个月的魔幻之旅 - My surreal three-month trip in China.
异样 yì yàng
something strange
除了口罩之外，没有感觉到什么异样 - Apart from people wearing masks I didn’t sense anything strange.
荒凉 huāng liáng
desolate, deserted
来到白云机场就不一样了，感觉非常荒凉，整个机场里面好像只有我们这一个国际航班 - When I arrived at Baiyun Airport, it was completely different. It felt completely deserted. It was as if in the whole airport there was only our international flight.
大白 dà bái
‘big white’ - covid worker (in full body hazmat suit)
我们被安排在一个候机大厅，远出是一排办理登记手续的大白 - We were directed to a waiting room. In the distance there was a line of covid support workers in hazmat suits processing registrations.
折腾 zhē teng
suffer unnecessarily
这位大叔声如洪钟，已经被折腾了三个月了，家人一个也没见到 - The old man had a booming voice. He’d already been through three-months of quarantine, and hadn’t seen one member of his family during that time.
More: I discussed the many meanings of 折腾 in 10 April newsletter last year - one year ago!
抑郁 yì yù
depression
但是这位兄弟好像已经严重抑郁了，每天走来走去，心情不太好 - However, this man was already seriously depressed. He paced around all day in a really bad mood.
曙光 shǔ guāng
dawn, a glimmer of hope after a dark time
是阴性，一如既往的阴性。心中大喜，看到了曙光 - My test result was negative, as always it was negative. I felt so happy. I saw the light at the end of the tunnel.
Note: I see this colloquial word used a lot in discussions about getting through lockdowns
