Only going out in the courtyard, buying groceries only online, fear of being sent to the mass isolation camp: how a Munich sinologist, teacher at the German School in Shanghai, experienced the strict lockdown in the mega-metropolis.
Andrea Keller has been in lockdown in a residential building in Shanghai since the beginning of April. She has lived in the city of 26 million people for 13 years and works there as a teacher at the German School. Mandarin and the diverse Chinese culture are Keller’s life. She studied sinology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität up to her doctorate. She traveled to China and many other Asian countries both privately and as a tour guide. In the past two years, no restrictions have been noticeable, says the 60-year-old, since there have only been a few corona cases. Now she is stuck in her two-room apartment, can only teach online and is experiencing a “nightmare”. Here are her very personal impressions of a metropolis in a state of emergency: