Thanks for the great report and great pictures!

For the bolded part above: not sure if you did, but I can't stress enough the importance of getting everyone on the bus going to the quarantine hotel/facility to form their own, independent WeChat group.
It's slightly difficult to setup, especially if there's no other foreigners. There's time on the bus to do this, but not everyone will easily be convinced of its benefit, but once in your room, it's too late!
We did not have a community WeChat group during my 2021 quarantine, but did on my recent 2022 quarantine: makes a WORLD of difference, as there's usually at least one person knowledgeable & willing to help with any particular query....not to mention the camaraderie!!!
(I used the built-in WeChat translate feature to read messages, and used another translator program to reply....worked perfectly!)

No problem.

The passenger has been through this process twice now, once in late 2020 (14 days in a hotel), and in the past month. On both occasions there were a few foreigners on the flight and hence the quarantine group. On neither occasion was there an independent WeChat group but the group was used by everyone and there were some messages shared in English both by quarantinees and the minders. But I can imagine it could be useful for those who really struggle with Chinese to have a couple of extra contacts in the group, good call!

Despite having the official WeChat group the minders usually failed to share any useful messages, e.g. Timing of today's PCR test, making sure they don't clash with food service, etc.

Shanghai quarantine
 

I arrived at Shanghai PVG yesterday, on a Lufthansa flight from Germany. From landing to getting on the bus to the hotel was about 3 hours, not so bad, The hotel is originally enough the 'Shanghai Hotel' (Jin Jiang chain), and it has seen much better days. The room itself is fine, clean enough. Lots of food with each meal, lots of rice, but not really great. Costs at 400 room/day + 100 meals/day, so 5000 RMB total up front for 10 days. Visa/other CC but not amex, or cash There is no choice for hotels, they herd you into a waiting area then onto the bus, and off we go.

Its like a video game: scan these codes, pass these tests, get through various bosses, 'fast' travel to somewhere else, then repeat.

Install WeChat on your phone before you arrive, and Alipay if you can. The health code is accessed via Alipay. I could not get this to work with my German SIM card, but no problems with a China SIM bought from amazon before leaving.
They setup a group WeChat for everyone, and you can order food as a 'group buy', once per day.

The room has high ceilings - should've brought my golf clubs or a skipping rope.

That Qingdao experience looks especially painful. Absolutely ridiculous to be making people do this in late 2022.

My friend who travelled to Shanghai was let out of quarantine at JW Marriot Changfeng Park about a week ago. Instead of the Dexter plastic wrap treatment he had some kind of rubber-mat covering the floor.
Like others he had no idea what hotel he would stay in until he stepped of the bus from the airport.
Yesterday he had to change rooms at his new hotel because someone in another room at the same floor had allegedly been in contact with someone else with Covid. To be safe they moved him 4 floors further down... Ridiculous...

My hotel quarantine group started out with only 5 people (myself, 2 from the bus, and 2 I met in the lobby during check-in). We added the hotel concierge on day 3, and this setup was robust enough. The concierge proved to be our most valuable member because she was in charge of getting deliveries to us. For example, beer was fine with her, but not with the 保安, so she told Times Grocery how to properly conceal it, and she also gave them her own phone number in case the couriers were running late. I sent her a nice 红包 on day 13.

I suspect it's not just about optics--Xi is probably genuinely concerned about mRNA vaccines becoming another "chokehold" import that the US can leverage in anti-China containment strategy.

After what happened with semiconductors, China is never going to sole-source anything critical from a US-controlled or US-influenced supplier again as a matter of national security. E.g., Semiconductor export curbs hitting China to be followed by biotech and AI restrictions: US official

If/when China develops a domestic mRNA vaccine, that's when China will clear Pfizer/BioNTech for import, since both sides know if there's a domestic alternative, the US government can't use the foreign vaccine as leverage.

Maybe it’s not about Covid at all and it’s purely an excuse for Chairman Xi to enforce greater control on the population of the PRC. That’s certainly my take on the current situation.

Hehe great 2020 hindsight and also you conveiently forgot about China's vaccine diplomacy...

That's a pretty outlandish claim. Why would the US withhold better vaccines? So that Chinese people can get infected, then spread new variants around, and then have those variants come back into the US and cause another surge? Unlike semiconductors, a lack of vaccines in China has a risk to the public health of the people of the US. There is no motivation for the US to disallow import of vaccines.

Bear in mind that the Fosun project was a licensing deal. After the initial technology transfer (which TMK was not especially extortionate), the Chinese/Taiwanese were supposed to run the operation and at considerable scale. I surmise that saving face was the main reason it didn't pan out. Basically, Chinese companies were making some progress toward developing their own mRNA vaccines. When it became clear that wasn't in the cards, instead of acknowledging failure, Papa Bear simply pretended all was good. I try my best to use diplomatic language in this forum, by the way.

Hi Narvik,
"Took the HSR to Beijing"

Can you please tell me, was there any advantage to the HSR to Beijing vs a flight to Beijing? Currently my spouse (RP) is doing the 7 +3 and will make plans to return to Beijing. Thanks

There is no difference. As long as your spouse is able to get the Beijing health code without the pop up, they should be able to fly or train back to the capital.

My understanding is that the Beijing health code is currently the big issue. My wife (who's been in Shanghai) hasn't been able to get rid of the pop up, and therefore is unable to go to Beijing.

Next March https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-billion-rally

I find the train MUCH less stressful, and much more reliable. Came on with two large suitcases, no problem. I did travel Business Class though, which is GREAT and even has a lounge you can use at Hongqiao.
​​​​​

The Beijing health code won't have its pop up go away until after you complete whatever quarantine you need to do in Beijing. I had some trouble getting rid of the popup but it was eventually sorted on the 4th day in Beijing.

Not sure that is true. For boarding the train, I thought you only need the Shanghai green code, the green travel arrow, and the release papers from the quarantine hotel (incl. Test results).

-is the train food more edible (or at least better smelling) these days? One thing I miss about the old school trains is the fact that they have actual kitchens that crank out decent grub
-how did it work with the two large suitcases? I've often wondered about the process because I've never traveled on those trains with more than a backpack and small wheelie (so I could self carry even among the massive crowds)

I am told that one can quarantine in Macau then fly into China wihtout needing to quarantine upon landing at a Chinese city.
I would like to verify if this informaiotn is true with experts in this threa.
Anyone has any specific information and website link that I can look at?

Thanks

Yes this is true, and you can select from one of two hotels, the Regency Art Hotel or the Lisboeta.

https://www.macaotourism.gov.mo/en/a...ervation-hotel

Travel should be free after your quarantine, unless Macau is designated high risk (which hasn't happened - what's happened in the past when there was an outbreak in Macau was that all the flights just got canceled).

Those hotels both seem a lot nicer than the Shanghai offering, and aren't super expensive. However, I just spot checked flights into Macau, and those seem a bit more limited than I'm used to. I'm guessing this might be addressed in the HK/Macau forum, but have you researched going directly from hkia to Macau upon landing?

When did you go back to Beijing. The “cannot return to Beijing” pop up is relatively new and happened a few weeks before the coronation event last month. They have yet to pull it so many people are still stuck outside Beijing unable to return.

Just FYI, two families in our group here were released after 7 days, Chinese, to spend the next 3 in isolation at home. The hotel said their health codes will turn 'green' in 'hour or 2'. But of course they did not. They are still in our WeChat quarantine group.

Now they are stuck on the sidewalk at night at the airport, not allowed to enter with a 'red' health code. Young kids too, outside now for hours, no one will help them. The health so-called leaders at the airport, the police, no one. Its unbelievable. There is no compassion or empathy here at all. This would make the national news in any western country.

So be warned. Get that green code. Don't let them shove you out the door with promises.

A week ago. I did have a pop-up, but that basically just said, that "they" knew I was outside of Beijing and in quarantine.


Food was good...well, BIG CAVEAT: "Food was good because I just came out of quarantine and it was Business Class!" :D
Suitcases: super easy. Although they did have more security than I am used to for the train specifically going to Beijing....they opened BOTH suitcases right there on the floor. Still managed to board the train within 25 minutes of changing the ticket to this much earlier one. You just walk onto the train with the suitcases and leave them in the spacious Bus Class cabin.

Pic of food:

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f1643e39a9.jpg

I don't get this one. At all.
The health code needs to turn green BEFORE you leave the hotel.
If the health code is still RED, they should not have left the hotel. REALLY bad advice from the hotel? What city?

Really? That's unbelievable. Oh, wait, which country are we talking about?

The 'Shanghai Hotel' in the Jing An district, Shanghai.

Isn’t the release document you get from the hotel meant to cover for situations like this? I’ve heard others have used this to get through these situations when their code is still red.

Anyway, it’s a dumb heartless policy in a country that is now full of such policies.

Apparently the release document is useless, only the health QR code in the app is used.

It's really BOTH. You will need BOTH; green code AND release papers.
The green code is to get you into whatever travel building (railway station/airport, etc.), the release papers is needed to check-in to your destination, as it's proof of recent Covid test, and confirms you have completed quarantine, and are "fit to travel".

This happens all the time. They need to show their quarantine release certificate instead of the green (or red) QR code to access the airport.

[mod edit] I work for one of the companies who is involved in Covid-vaccine manufacturing. mRNA vaccines are not that complicated and can easily be manufactured by multiple Chinese companies(I know the landscape quite well as I used to consult for the Chinese pharma industry).There have also been many manufacturing deals by both Moderna and Pfizer to produce vaccines at low cost and in local markets. These reasons led to such a rapid roll-out of the covid vaccines. A roll out who scale and speed is unprecedented.

Regarding the Chinese developing an mRNA vaccine, I have seen many products from both my company and other companies be blatantly ripped off under a new Chinese name after a licensing deal was signed with China. Most major companies now do the whole manufacturing process for their high value medicines outside of China since manufacturing in China requires you to reveal many trade secrets to the NMPA(the new name of the Chinese FDA). The fact the Fosun was even allowed to sign the licensing deal to manufacture means that Pfizer basically knows that they won't ever make any money in China.

I can't predict how the CCP will act but I can tell you with 99.9% certainty that if a Chinese company "develops" an mRNA vaccine that has high efficacy, they simply copied the Pfizer vaccine. I reckon the CCP is simply trying to find a way to do so without being caught or losing face or waiting out until the rest of the world stops caring about vaccines or COVID so that they can take a victory lap with their "new" vaccine.

Comparing the semiconductor industry to the pharma industry is ridiculous. Medicine is required for people's survival and any sort of restriction on it looks incredibly bad on the country or company that does so. I work with several products that my company(an American company that manufactures in the US) sells to US enemies including but not limited to Russia, Iran and Syria.

The did show the release certificate, of course, but no luck at all without the 'green' QR code. Too bad kids, the sidewalk for you!

They say that when the airport was closed another security team came upon them, and finally they were sorted out. Missed flights but able to book a hotel at least.

Did they escalate the matter appropriately and still get rebuffed? IME, once you get the police (even low level) involved, things have a way of working out.

Glad [for them] it got sorted; but before we draw any conclusions, there is/was the possibility that their code didn't turn GREEN for a legit reason.
The hotel should have never let them out without it though; that fact remains.

Ah-ha!
So you're thinking about coming back??? 👍

5+3 now and circuit breaker is dropped.

The latter is bigger news than the former…

5+3 is 8 days in a hotel for most people as opposed to 10 days now (7+3). Not gonna move the needle at all except for those who absolutely need to be back in China. Circuit breaker is big news but they need to increase flights. China is still backwards when it comes to all this stuff.

The removal of the circuit breaker is definitely a plus; now, it will presumably be safe to book oddball once per week flights (without the risk of staying in Thailand, Korea, Malaysia, etc much longer than planned).

Disagree here...(bolded part).
I think this is pretty significant [and WELCOME!] news, and will sway quite a few to come back. Not all, but many.

The difference between 10 and 8 days lockup might make a difference for those of us in the China forum.

For the rest of the world of business travelers/ tourists it’s still over a week in a hotel room to visit what has become one of the world’s most inhospitable countries for non residents. I just don’t see 8 days instead of 10 making a difference at all. If they go three like HK, then we may see more than a trickle here.