Many Chinese villagers seem ready to move on from covid-19
Even as the virus tears through their communities
In rural China, the story of this month’s lunar new year will be told in two colours: festive red and the white that signifies mourning. For many country folk, the holiday—which this year falls on January 22nd—will mark a return to near-normality. China has dropped the pandemic controls that blighted each new year after a strange virus emerged in the city of Wuhan weeks before the Spring Festival in 2020 (to use the holiday’s other name).
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “China’s strange new year”
From the January 14th 2023 edition
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