Well before dusk on Friday 24 January, the lake was empty of ice skaters. Quiet was to be expected. It was Chinese New Year’s Eve, and the most important family dinner of the year was starting early.
Beijing tends to become very local over the holidays as migrants make an annual trip back home. This time, however, the eeriness had more to do with an A4 notice taped to every doorpost. Old Zhang, general manager of the Houhai yacht club, explained, “Skating is over for the season. SARS. They’ve shut the place down.”
With this began a pattern. When visiting anywhere in Beijing, even villages in the hills, I found places shut down and outsiders urged to return home. Across the border in the mountains of Hebei province, I woke on a heated brick kang bed to the sound of loudspeakers screeching orders: “Wash your hands, cover your faces, and keep outsiders away.” Bundled into a van by the village chief, we were sent back into the city.