Chinese Australian Emma Wei was evacuated from Wuhan with her two kids three years ago, but she has booked tickets to return and see her ailing grandfather as China eases travel restrictions.
For her upcoming trip to China, Ms Wei will have to do several COVID tests and doesn't mind the additional steps required to re-enter Australia, which were recently announced by the health minister.
"The Chinese government requires a 48-hour pre-departure PCR test en-route to China," she told the ABC.
"On my return, I will be required to take another 48-hours pre-departure PCR test by the Australian government."
China has skyrocketing case numbers and from 12:01am on Thursday, travellers like Ms Wei will have to show Australian authorities evidence of a negative result from a COVID test before she returns.
"I think it is fair enough unless requirements escalate to forced quarantines … I don't think it is discriminative as it is really due to the severe nature of the COVID-19 situation in China."
She had thought about taking the whole family back with her initially, but the high cost of air travel deterred her.
"I cannot afford the air tickets for the whole family to go as it would easily be over $10,000 — too expensive for me," she said.
Another Chinese Australian citizen keen to make the trip to China is Sydney businessman Jeff Suo.
He booked a flight to China as soon as he heard quarantine requirements for travellers arriving in the country had been scrapped.
"Both of my parents are old, and it's a Chinese tradition to go home at the Chinese New Year to reunite with your family," Mr Suo said.
"There is an old Chinese saying that when your parents are alive, there is always a place to come.
"I want to cherish every reunion with them at home."
When he arrives in China, Mr Suo will join hundreds of millions of people visiting family across the country as the spring festival travel season, also called Chunyun, gets underway on January 7.
The world's largest human migration comes as Chinese New Year will be celebrated on January 22, welcoming in the Year of the Rabbit and marking the first time in three years there have been no COVID-19 restrictions on people travelling at this time in China.
But the new year holiday period comes at a difficult time in the pandemic, when positive cases in China are soaring and the Chinese government has relaxed quarantine measures for overseas travellers from January 8.
Bobo Law moved to Melbourne from Hong Kong and has plans to travel back there in a few months.
She said she understood the requirements imposed by Canberra, and didn't want a new variants coming to Australia.
"I think the government wants to do it because it wants to protect people in Australia. Why not?"
Ms Law also said she believed there was an issue with a lack of accurate statistics on cases numbers and deaths coming out of China.
The World Health Organization has asked Chinese officials to provide real-time information on the COVID wave in China to the international community, including genomic sequencing that identifies new variants.
Analysts estimate 9,000 people a day are dying with COVID in China, but official government information show very low figures.
China says restrictions on travellers 'unnecessary'
With a lack of data from China, governments around the world including the US, UK, Japan, France, Israel, Spain, Italy, Taiwan and South Korea have implemented new restrictions on travellers from China.
In Australia, from January 5, people arriving from China will be required to take a pre-departure COVID-19 test and show evidence of a negative result.
"There are concerns, in an environment of cases spreading so quickly, about the possibility of the emergence of a new variant," Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said on Sunday.
But on Monday night it was revealed that Australia's Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly told Mr Butler there was not a "sufficient public health rationale" for the move.
Professor Kelly advised in the absence of any "specific threat" from a COVID-19 variant, and with high vaccination rates in the country, any restrictions or additional requirements on China were unnecessary.
When asked repeatedly about the new travel requirements some countries were imposing, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin said in the past few days "medical experts from different countries have said that entry restrictions on travellers arriving from China are unnecessary".
"For all countries, COVID response measures need to be science-based and proportionate and apply equally to people of all countries without affecting normal travel and people-to-people exchange and cooperation," he said.
"We hope that all parties will follow a science-based response approach, and work together to ensure safe cross-border travel, keep global industrial and supply chains stable, and contribute to global solidarity against COVID and the world economic recovery."
'I want to wait and see'
As infections surge and the international community reacts, many Chinese Australians are not sure if now is the best time to travel back to China.
Bing Liu, who has lived in Australia for more than 20 years, is one of them.
"The current COVID situation in China is still rather unstable, so I want to wait and see," Ms Bing said.
The restrictions for people travelling from China back to Australia have also made her think twice about visiting China now.
Ms Bing caught the virus in Australia and her two elderly parents also got COVID at a nursing home in China.
"Currently, nursing homes in China are managed under a closed-loop, so even if I manage to go back to China, I probably won't be able to see my parents."
After many years working from home, Ms Bing has now decided to take her long service leave this year to travel around Australia and Asia instead.
'Hasn't crossed my mind'
Yan Wei's daughter passed her Year 12 exams this year with flying colours, and if it were not for the pandemic, Mrs Yan said she would definitely consider taking her family back to China for a visit.
Mrs Yan was in Shanghai at the end of 2019 and early 2020 when the first COVID outbreak emerged in Wuhan.
Three years on, she is not so sure about travelling to China.
"Honestly, it hasn't crossed my mind."
Mrs Yan said almost all of her extended family in China have been infected with COVID since early December when restrictions in China were eased.
"Thankfully they are in the process of recovering," she said.
China's abrupt COVID-19 policy change
The opening up of travel to and from China this spring holiday season came as a surprise to many Chinese Australians.
For nearly three years, China had maintained a strict COVID-zero policy, a suite of harsh restrictions including lockdowns, mass testings and limited travel designed to keep infections under control.
But in December, after a series of lockdown-related protests, Beijing abruptly began easing COVID rules, then announced it would resume issuing passports for tourism.
In late December, President Xi Jinping made his first public comments on COVID since his government changed course.
In a televised speech to mark the New Year, Mr Xi said China had overcome unprecedented difficulties and challenges in the battle against COVID, and that its policies were "optimised".
"Since the outbreak of the epidemic … the majority of cadres and masses, especially medical personnel, grassroots workers, braved hardships and courageously persevered," he said.
