cce blog

Erin's in "jail"

As of 4pm tomorrow my friend Erin in Beidaihe (Qinhuangdao municipality, Hebei province, China) isn't going to be allowed to leave her campus or have any visitors for 3 weeks. She's not clear on exactly why they're implementing this harsh measure -- there haven't been any cases of SARS reported yet in Beidaihe -- but the decision came down from the powers that be in the educational bureacracy and that's that. Roadblocks are being established to allow only local residents into QHD. Apparently Jiang Zemin is already in town, relaxing by the sea, and Hu is rumored to have arrived too.

Erin's understanding is that migrant workers are fleeing Beijing for nearby provinces like Qinhuangdao and these measures are being taken to try to keep them and SARS out. But since there's no good information on what's going on, who knows? In any case, read on for her latest update!

[Again, this is all by Erin, QHD = Qinhuangdao municipality, BDH = Beidaihe]

Stories from "jail" (in the not-so Safest City)

As of 4pm April 30, I will no longer be able to leave my school compound, say nothing of the city limits. The spotty restrictions were originally more lax than I'd been told, since my friends living in QHD seemed able to come up, and could drive across. What I've been told now is that unless you have a residency permit for BDH, you won't be allowed in. Previously, buses had gone unchecked, but apparently now they're inspecting passengers. I'm planning to have friends test this weekend. Since I can't even go out to the beach or other public areas to see them, I'll try to have them come and talk through the gates. Since I'm essentially being held captive, I want to exploit the situation for all it's worth- passing letters and gifts through the wall. I'm going to hang a sign renaming the school, and then have my friends take pictures of the students all penned in behind the iron gate. I am accepting packages in the mail. If there were ever a moment that supporting substance use in order to slip into a different world were in order, this is surely the best I’ve encountered. Too bad they’re out of reach. If anyone wants to risk the mail system, that can be included in care packages. (yes, I’m kidding…sort of).

But I thought you live in the safest city in Asia, you say. It would appear that despite crazy lockdowns in BJ, at least that are being reported, it's a matter of language interpretation. We here of quarantines, and think that they've sealed the building off, so no one with possible exposure could come out. That would be the American interpretation though. The Chinese meaning would be that no one else can go in, but those living there are free to come out. This is the case at Beiwai University in BJ. Teachers living in a quarantined building where a family was apparently infected, are still going out every day to teach class. However, the problem gets worse. Having acknowledged that BJ was in trouble, yet other provinces were still relatively under control, one would assume that you would go out of your way to keep the problem there. That however, would once again be an American/Western assumption. BJ has a large migrant worker population, and with nothing to do in the city, and no money, and the government didn't want to support them (since that would cost more money), 3 million migrant workers left! Where did they go? Well, I've heard contradictory numbers, but one account says 130,000 came to QHD and the other says 10,000. But, given roads were closed and no one was supposed to be coming to the area, it seems that something went wrong. I've heard there's a complete lack of control in BJ right now, and it would seem everywhere else as well. I mean, for a country with one of the, in not the, largest armies in the world, and one in which the military has a lot of control, you'd think they might just send out armed people and enforce order. But, it's better to get them out of BJ. Now, if case you're wondering about train safety, here is perhaps the best story of all. (It also discusses more on the issue of language interpretation). The town of Nandaihe, located a couple km south (nan=south and bei=north in Chinese), is currently under siege with fear, and there they actually have potential for infection. A female university student who had a confirmed case of SARS had been isolated in an intensive care unit in a BJ hospital. She escaped, and ran away to her family in Nandaihe. First off, how do you escape from an ICU? The response I got was, “well, they can’t be expected to watch her all the time.” By definition (again American), the ICU is a sealed-off area with one door and a guard. I can’t imagine this girl was that healthy or strong that a guard would have been unable to restrain her? Does it make you wonder how effective these quarantines of hospitals and other people really are? As for the trains… I had heard that the train stations were inspecting all passengers- taking temperatures and retaining anyone that had symptoms. How did a girl with a confirmed case of SARS, who just fled a hospital, manage to get on a train and get all the way to NDH?

I’ll add in here, that after I wrote the past part, we had yet another administrative meeting. My favorite part of the conversation was when my boss told me that “we all have to comply with the government restrictions, because you know, it’s a very serious matter. It’s only third time in history that the world has seen such a wide epidemic. (She mentioned the Plague and Smallpox. Apparently HIV/AIDS and the other ones didn’t make the list. Which by the way, if you want to be really pessimistic and one of those what if people, you can look at the history of HIV in China, the history of the government leaders not talking about numbers, actually profiting off blood sales that spread it, an inadequate health care system, mix in SARS, and suddenly the potential fatality rate soars. I was thinking about this last week and then found an article that covered all of this.. but I’m not a worst-case scenario person.) The government has acted very quickly to make sure we’re all safe, and is doing a lot…” This is when in the middle of the meeting I burst out laughing, as did my Canadian friend. It’s one thing if you want to say all of this to the Chinese co-workers, but at least give me some credit for knowing what is really going on. We then had a discussion about heat. It’s getting warmer, but I live right by the ocean, so at night a very cold wind comes, and the buildings aren’t well insulated, thus I put the heat on low. Well, according to my other boss, the one actually in control, if I turned my heat on, I might get SARS. What? Yeah, because it would be warm and so if I went outside, I would feel cold and get sick. Thus, it’s better to be cold all the time and let your body work overtime trying to keep you warm, thus lowering your resistance, because obviously Chinese health beliefs and systems work so well. I’ve been sick more in China than anywhere else, and much of it was because the winter was so cold and there was little to no heat. Tomorrow we’ll have another battle because they want to take the remote that controls the heat in my apartment away on April 30. I guess as an American adult, I’m not responsible or trustworthy enough to take care of myself. The fact that he was arguing about all of this with someone who studied biology and has worked with doctors for years just made it worse, because none of his reasoning made sense.

Getting around to the topic of reporting. After the disaster in BJ, the government made the order that all governments had to report cases. Unfortunately, the way this works doesn’t actually encourage honesty and it also causes crazy actions. If someone in your area gets SARS, you lose power. Thus, my boss will lose his position if anyone at the school gets sick. This is from the QHD government officials, because that’s the mandate the Hebei officials gave them. Rather than accept the fact that there’s an incubation period, and that people could have been infected before they even came to the area, and rather than just treating the cases and encouraging honest, sound procedures, someone has to fall. And here I’d hoped this policy had been changed with the whole move to address HIV that got attention in the fall. I guess not, though. The end result is the prison situation I described before. There’s really no rational reason for us to be under lock and key with guards (I’ve been told the guards are coming, but I’ll find out tomorrow afternoon), but it’s for liability purposes.

Confusion and panic continues to spread. I’m sure everyone (well, not the Chinese) has seen the reports of rioting near Tianjin, which is 2 hours from here. The price of turnips has exploded to 18RMB/jin. Who knew? They’re apparently the cure to the virus. I don’t think turnips have ever seen so many ardent fans. As for health information, there appears to be none. I asked my friends what the government is telling them to do to avoid getting sick since I can’t understand the news or read the papers. The answer appears to be not much. Other than you shouldn’t exercise too much, because if you sweat a lot, you’ll get it. Here I always thought sweating was good, since it rid your body of toxins, but this doesn’t seem to be the case in China. They’ve suggested opening windows to get air, but this is causing further hysteria in naïve, frightened students who fear that if I close the door to reduce noise pollution, they’ll get the virus. I guess enough stress on the actual transmission means- from being in the presence of someone with SARS, and having them cough or sneeze on you- hasn’t been provided. Unfortunately for those less-informed, I’m definitely losing patience, and have taken to mocking the idea of a magical SARS bug flying in and infecting everyone. Ok, so I haven’t actually done that, but I’ve been really tempted, and I did give a lecture on disease transmission and how you actually get it. Finally, did you hear about how the US intentionally sent the virus here via Taiwan, and is selfishly hoarding the cure? That’s why the US has had no deaths… it’s apparently a secret ploy against China.

Anyhow, you all know where to find me since I won’t be going ANYWHERE for the next two weeks.

IM Conversation (follow-up questions)
Erin: i guess. i just talked to my dad and he asked if they'd cut off my internet connection yet
Chris: they'd do that?
Erin: they not only closed the internet bars, they actually dismantled them
Chris: dismantled?
Erin: no, i don't think they would...
Erin: yes, they're gone.
Chris: in BDH?
Erin: there used to be 3 and now they're empty
Chris: no computers or anything?
Erin: yeah, idont know why...maybe because there were no clients and they were closed they were losing too much money?
Erin: yes, nothing
Erin: they're empty
Chris: hmm, maybe
Erin: they'd been locked and gated since last week, but now they're open but empty
Chris: jeez
Erin: who knows... anyhow, i'm gonna go. i'm glad HK is returning to some semblance of normal. it's sort of funny in a sick way, that every other country has the situation under control, but here it's just getting worse
Chris: yeah, well, it's dalu
Chris: nothing works there
Erin: i'm only too aware of this fact
Chris: oh, man, that's nuts
Erin: i mean, i'm maintaining a sense of humor about it, and really, it is sort of funny... this is definitely outside the realm of any thoughts i had about my time here
Chris: yeah, i can imagine
Chris: what are the rest of the teachers doing?
Erin: jila is like a saint.. she's freaking out but is really calm. she's not a spoiled american 22 yr-old of hte me-me generation
Erin: and george is so out of it all the time anyway, but he mentioned jumping over a wall with me
Chris: haha. a joke though.
Erin: the others are chinese, and they weren't so happy. especially that they had to leave their husbands and stuff to move onto campus
Chris: wow
Erin: my friend's husband came up and we snuck her out to have dinner tonight
Erin: ugh, i'm not sure if he was joking or not
Chris: haha
Chris: but you couldn't leave even if you wanted to fly back to the US?
Erin: i'd definitely go hopping over the wall. i mean, i do it when i come home late anyway, except usually we don't have guradds and stuff
Erin: no, i think i could leave then
Erin: it's just that i can't come back once i leave.
Erin: i sort of have this sick/masachistic urge to stay just to see what happens next
Erin: by the day, the stories are getting better
Chris: oy gevalt
Chris: okay read your email
Erin: funny, right?
Chris: but, uhm, you don't actually say WHY you're not allowed to leave the school compound
Erin: oh, see, that would be becasue i don't really know why
Chris: that's what i was looking for when i read it ;>
Chris: is there a case on campus?
Erin: the education bureau decided that for some reason no one could go out or in
Erin: no there aren't even any cases in all of BDH
Erin: but becasue of the migrant workers, they're concerned? maybe?
Erin: the mandate came from above it would seem, but no one really understands. and if you ask questions, you are told that the mandate came from above. no one can question such things, it seems
Chris: yeah, that's what i was looking for
Chris: so ... are people in BDH coming and going as they please?
Chris: just the school is locked down?
Erin: so i guess since they can't rely on the boder checks that might be even stricter now, since they claim they're going to check IDs...
Erin: yeah, just the school. maybe all college campuses.
Chris: are you still going to have classes?
Erin: the rest of the town can wander around.
Erin: oh yes. in fact ,a neighboring school got in trouble with the government because they sent their students home.
Erin: the underlying fact is that none of this makes any sense, and you have so many conflicting versions.
Erin: last night my friend james called and said he was coming up to chill with me. i told him i thought no one could get in, that they were checking at the town border. he claimed he could take the bus and be fine. other friends had done this previously.
Erin: my friend's husband just drove in today, but his car plates are from the BDH/QHD area.
Erin: i was told today that as of tomorrow they'll inspect people on the bus. unless you have a residency card, you cannot come back into BDH.
Chris: hmm, weird
Erin: i'm going to have james try it out and see if he can get here.
Erin: basically i think my boss is freaking out. he doesn't no what to do, becasue if someone was exposed, he'd be in trouble.
Erin: so all of these illogic mandates are created becasue no one wants to take the fall. and someone obviously has to take the fall.
Chris: i haven't heard about these migrant workers
Erin: i know college students were fleeing bj since last week.
Erin: and i did read about rural people heading home and possiby increasing the risk
Erin: are you trying to figure out how they fit into this whole story?
Chris: uhh, yeah
Erin: well, my understanding is that the QHD people are concerned that they'll bring SARS with them from BJ, end up infecting QHD so there really is a problem, and then it could be taken up here.
Erin: and since jiang is already here, and i believe the others including hu have arrived, that would be bad, i suppose.
Erin: the migrant workers part was more about how absurd the policies are, since it was supposed to be impossible for anyone from bj toget out here, but apparently that proved not to be the case
Erin: another friend left bj to go back to tangshan and she's in quarantine in a hospital for a week before she's allowed to go home. so some places are acting better, but how 10,000 or 130,000 (a lot of fuckign bodies) just poured into QHD seems a little curious
Chris: wow crazy
Erin: that is what i've been told. there was a crazy run on stores with people stocking up on stuff. there's be no way to keep regular citizens locked up, but schools are easy.
Erin: i really don't understand the ICU patient escaping though. that's just ludicrous. especially given how they're patting themselves on the back for restricting 8000 people or something.
Chris: is everything just word-of-mouth?
Chris: in HK we have this website that has the names and addresses of every SARS case
Erin: no, i was looking at numbers and relative to other places it wasn't bad
Erin: oh, we definitely don't have that
Chris: but that's all western press reports?
Erin: they publish numbers by province here
Chris: oh ok.
Erin: no cities.
Chris: provinces are big though.
Erin: exactly
Chris: how many in QHD?
Erin: 1 possible case
Erin: and even that was confusing.
Erin: the problem is that there is no good information. everything contradicts. china's gossip chains are unreal.
Chris: is that in the countryside?
Chris: what, you just hear everything from your students & other teachers?
Erin: there's so much distrust, and the walls are so thin.
Erin: i heard a high of 20, but that was panic speaking.
Chris: but how would anyone know if they didn't work at the hospital?
Chris: how many hospitals are in QHD?
Erin: there was one man who was in bj in a hospital visiting someone. he was going home to the norht, but had symptoms, so the train conductor made him get off in QHD. i guess he went to the hospital, but then he vanished. i have also heard he was never a confirmed case.
Chris: this is just a story you heard.
Chris: or it was in the local paper?
Erin: no, that's from my boss who has daily meetings with the govt officials
Erin: i get my info from him, because he talks to the govt people all the time and gets the only numbers i'd give a whole lot of credence to.
Erin: the 20 and other numbers were all stories, but that just attests to the panic.
Chris: do you think the controls being set in QHD/BDH are stricter than other places in china because of the high-profile visitors, or is what's going on at your school typical of everywhere else?
Erin: the papers are saying 6 cases in total in hebei.
Erin: i think that we're stricter becasue of the high-profile guests.
Erin: i know that unis in bj are closed to visitors, but hte people can go off freely... that includes residents of the quarantined builidign
Chris: are students seen as dangerous or something? or is just because they're government-controlled so officials are trying to cover all their bases?
Erin: as for hospitals in QHD, i'm acutally not sure how many there are. my art school is down the street from the main one, but i believe there may be 3 or so in total.
Erin: i think it's the latter.
Erin: "the government takes extra care of students to ensure they remain safe"
Chris: that's nice to know.
Erin: that's the line i was given when i asked this question
Erin: how could you restrict regular residents though? unless you're going to start supplying food and other stuff.
Chris: like in "Outbreak"
Chris: just fence it off completely and make everyone go back to their homes and wait it out
Erin: the other thing though is that if we closes, kids woudl be taking trains all over china, so they're trying to restrict mobility
Erin: apparently the chinese don't like that so much.
Erin: anyway, the whole thing is absurd. i'm trying to see how it is in other cities for a comparison. the entire experiene is definitely a classic

Posted by cce at April 29, 2003 11:09 PM | TrackBack