Beijing, West Railway Station
A trip from Beijing to Wuhan
Bernhard Zand, correspondent for DER SPIEGEL
“I now have to replace the normal mask with one that is provided by the train staff. The guys are extremely polite and courteous. This is due to the fact that there are far fewer people on the train today than usual.”
The train staff measures the temperature of the passengers
Bernhard Zand, correspondent for DER SPIEGE
“We are on the way from Beijing to Wuhan, to the epicenter of the corona crisis. For a few days now it has been possible to go there in principle, now also for foreigners like me. It is not easy for me to leave Beijing. Beijing is a city that is slowly recovering, with a certain optimism, but of course we are even more interested in the current situation in Wuhan, 60 days after the total closure of this city, and so we are on our way from now Beijing West Railway Station to Wuhan, which is about twelve hundred kilometers. We travel on one of these Chinese high-speed trains. Usually there are 500 to 530 people in a train like this until you are admitted as a foreigner. You have to show exactly where you have been. I have the impression that Beijing is not real very busy, but down here, if you look out now, the tractors are on the way. One also has the impression that the irrigation systems are working again. China has not returned to normal eight weeks after the corona crisis became known, but the country is slowly starting up again. ”
Wuhan, Hubei Province
Bernhard Zand, correspondent for DER SPIEGEL
“Wuhan is one of the most important, if not the most important, transport hub of the Chinese railway network. Trains thunder through here permanently. The high-speed trains on the east-west axis Shanghai-Chengdu come from the north-south axis Beijing – Zhengzhou every minute – Guangdong down towards Hong Kong, but very few people can get out of here right now. Very few people can get in, especially since the other provinces are all focused on what happened here in Wuhan, and the people from Hubei are now allowed to leave slowly, are not very welcome in the other provinces. ”
Yangtze River, Wuhan
“Wuhan, I have the impression, is a city in mourning, in great gloom. It fits a bit with the weather. However, this is not unusual. We are here on the Yangtze, the great Chinese river, and the weather is around it The season is often similar to what it is here, but it also fits in with the news, as the Wuhan City Council has once again urged the people of the city to hold out and be cautious at least until April 8th, when Wuhan is due to open To be, not to go out, is very hard on the people of Wuhan, because they have been totally sealed off for eight weeks now.
The exit restrictions are still strict.
There are numerous checkpoints.
If you want to go out, you need proof of health via QR code.
Ms. Lu, grocer
“Because nobody works, nobody has an income. Life is hard. If the situation stays that way, it is not good for anyone. If the city is locked down even longer.”
Bernhard Zand
“Tomorrow is also the Qingming Felst. It is the Chinese memorial service, comparable to our European All Saints Day or All Souls Day. And this day, I have never seen it in China, should be celebrated for the first time as a kind of mourning day, mourning day. The flags are set to half mast at 10 o’clock in the morning in China. There should be a moment of silence and silence. We’ll look at that tomorrow. You can already see signs of this Qingming festival today. We stood here at the Yangtze can see this here: Chrysanthemums are already floating around here. According to official figures, more than 3,200 people died of Covid 19 disease in China, including 2,500 in Wuhan alone. These are the official numbers not, but the relationship will be rough, and that can give you an idea of how hard hit, how traumatized this city is by that’s what has happened here in the past three months. “
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