Life in Beijing gets back to almost normal amid recovery

It’s been nearly three months since the novel coronavirus outbreak really took off in China.

Some regions, like Hubei province, were absolutely walloped by it. Some of the remote regions escaped with a few scratches. I guess Beijing fell somewhere in between.

The capital has been busy shaking off the fading epidemic. Most businesses in my district of Chaoyang are operating again, including restaurants that had long been closed. The streets, once whisper quiet, are noisier now as traffic, both vehicular and pedestrian, return. And formerly barren parks are welcoming groups of guests once more.

It was one of these parks, Dong Xiao Kou, that my friend and I decided to meet at on a recent Saturday afternoon. He lives further north, so the plan was for me to take the subway over to Longze station, where he would pick me up and we would go to the park together.

I took the subway for the first time in months, and I was expecting it to still be fairly empty and, relative to what it normally is, I suppose it was. I was surprised that there were plenty of seats available. Still, there were more people than I expected — all masked and all motivated to get out and about.

My friend and I got to the park and struggled to find a parking space. There were quite a few people! We strolled around and chatted for a while, in English and Chinese (I’m still learning). It was nice to be out on such a nice day, watching people laying on blankets on the grass and flying kites. It had been a while since I had seen so many folks hanging out and enjoying themselves all at once in the city.

Of course, we had to get temperature checks when we entered, yet another reminder that we’re not out of the COVID-19 woods yet.

But it seems clear that Beijing, and China as a whole, is further along than most of the rest of the world in terms of the pandemic. Which makes sense, since China has been fighting it longer.

I couldn’t help but think of my friends and family back home in the United States — my father, stepmother and nephews in Atlanta, my friends in Florida, my brother in Chicago, my sister in Las Vegas, my grandmother in Virginia, and especially my aunts, uncles and cousins in New York, the place of my birth and the US epicenter of the novel coronavirus now. I also have friends and loved ones all over the world who are suffering from the pandemic in Malaysia, Philippines, Cambodia and various European countries.

When I talk to them and I hear their woes about the lockdowns in their cities and the empty shelves in their supermarkets, I feel bad for them, but I’m also glad that I’m lucky enough to be here, where the epidemic is ebbing and life is slowly but surely returning to normal.

So far, nobody I know personally has come down with the virus, thank God. As the outbreak persists worldwide, naturally I remain concerned, but I’m also grateful that for China, the worst appears to be over.