BEIJING: On Monday, a rumor took hold that Shijiazhuang, a city 160 miles from Beijing, was to become a test case for China’s reopening, dismantling key parts of the Covid Zero regime.
But rather than jubilation that the policy’s incessant testing and disruptive lockdowns would be over, the speculation was met with fear by many in the city of 11 million. Parents kept their children home from school, shoppers stocked up on traditional Chinese medicine and people on the subway were few and far between.
