I woke up today, and came out of the bedroom to see my son seated in his dinner chair being fed food by my wife.
I smiled at him, followed by a twirl with my hands outstretched.
He smirked at me.
I played with my son. We kicked the ball around.
He climbed into his plastic bucket. I pushed him around on the floor – as he watched TV.
After some time he started to chase his mom around.
Chinese New Year Outing
Two hours later, I put on a protective face mask.
I told my wife, “I will be back soon. If you are going out, make sure our son wears a face mask. There are a lot of people with the flu. The coronavirus has infected a lot of people in China. We have these face masks, but he does not have a face mask. We need to buy him a mask too, otherwise he could contract the virus. ”
She silently nodded.
There was a news report last night. 544 cases of novel coronavirus were reported across China, with 17 confirmed deaths.
The two packs of 10 face masks that my wife had the presence of mind to purchase through Taobao （淘宝）the other day were delivered to our apartment this morning.
We had no baby face masks in stock however. We would need to buy some today.
Chinese Metro Station Crowds
I came out of our apartment in Guangzhou （广州市）, to stroll half a kilometer past all the shuttered businesses into Shayuan metro station （沙园站）.
Inside, a queue of people behind red cordons waited for security personnel to lift the ropes and usher them through.
There were too many people with face masks. I did not want to catch a cold in public.
I caught a taxi instead to Culture Park metro station （文化公园站）.
An Abandoned China on New Years
The official Chinese Spring Festival （春节）holidays began today. People all began their travels back to their hometowns to be with family and celebrate the New Year.
On the taxi ride, I was struck by how the streets being so busy yesterday, suddenly were so desolate and lifeless today. The shopping centers, the local markets, the restaurants and small businesses in China, everyone shutters up their shops today. The only shops I found open were 7/11 and temple shops.
The taxi dropped me off at Pearl river （珠江）.
From there, I sauntered around Yuexiu district （越秀区） taking photos of deserted streets.
I spied a young kid seated on a chair in the middle of an alleyway chatting smilingly to an older brother. It looked fun to have a whole alleyway to yourself in China.
Coincidentally, I looked across the street to see a familiar face. I waved to a friend of mine and walked over to say hello. She had a firm, black face mask on.
We casually chatted about the eerie, abandoned streets, and our plans for Chinese New Year. My local Chinese friend finished work yesterday and planned to return to her hometown by bus later in the afternoon.
When we parted ways, I continued to explore the haunted streets of Guangzhou, down barren alleyways, up the stairwells of abandoned buildings, seeing only a handful of people, and a few stray kittens lazing on a push trolley.
In those two hours, I only came across one open convenience store. I purchased a bottle of Coca Cola, and soon returned home.
Diary Of A Mad Chaos: Coronavirus In China
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Diary Of A Mad Chaos is a daily diary written from March 1996 until today, of which individual books and book series have been created, namely “The Lost Years” an exploration of young, entwined love, the “Wubao In China (猎艳奇缘)” book series which provides an extensive comparative analysis of the cultural differences between Eastern and Western societies, and the book titled “Foreigner (华人)” an exploration of race relations in Australia.
