Zhejiang: Land of Opportunity Under Semi-Quarantine (Thanks to Coronavirus)

Mitchell Blatt

Security,

The number of coronavirus cases in Zhejiang has surpassed 1,000, making it the hardest-hit province outside of Hubei. It is also one of the leading tourist destinations in China and one of the most unique provinces culturally. The author, a frequent traveler throughout China, describes what Zhejiang means to him.

We were sitting in the dim light of Mill whisky bar in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, sipping cocktails around a round faded stone table. Cool jazz was playing in the background. Mill is the an establishment of elegant design with liquors displayed in a lighted wooden shelf behind the bar, simple stained glass windows in the wall, and a traditional set of painted mah jong tiles in a frame on the wall. It evokes, if not the Shanghai speakeasies of the 1940’s, at least a modern millennial’s idea of what those speakeasies might have been like.

In short, it does what a great cocktail bar should do: it creates a new realm, apart from the world, somewhere to distract oneself and think. The whisky was flowing, the thoughts wandering. The open city beckoned us. It was early in the night. Time to wander along until we find the next bar.

Along a backstreet somewhere—at that point, the details had faded and just the feeling remained—there appeared a bar you entered through an old British phone booth into a great space that did not appear to exist from the outside. The whisky there was quality, too, and the design elements were interesting, albeit disjointed.

Such is a night in Hangzhou. It could be quite different in the specifics but just the same in meaning had we gone to a loud, rowdy nightclub and drank Budweiser, or played the dice game at cramped tables under chandelier-style lighting at 88 Bar. All of that is impossible now.

The major cities of Zhejiang province, the second-worst affected after Hubei, are under partial lockdown. No sense of limitless possibilities at 9 pm, no open-air to guide you freely through the night, no escape from the problem of the country and the world. Residents of Hangzhou, where there are 162 cases of coronavirus, are trapped behind their masks, not able to leave their home but once every two days. The case is similar in much of the country. Leisure and travel spots are largely shut down. But the measures are especially stringent in Hangzhou and Wenzhou, cities which, in common times, are uncommonly vibrant.