At the end of June, I visited the Bund — Shanghai’s famous waterside — for the first time this year. It was a warm afternoon and crowds of tourists were taking photos in front of tall skyscrapers. Teenagers raced past me on bicycles and families enjoyed their picnics. I heard a melodic voice being broadcast from a speaker in the distance: “Keep social distancing, stop the pandemic.” No one seemed to notice this public service announcement. They were all too busy with the business or leisure they had planned for the day.

It’s hard to imagine that just a year ago, such a sight would have been impossible in Shanghai. During the pandemic, the Bund was so unused that wild grass started growing through some cracks in the tiles. The city implemented some of the world’s most stringent restrictions as part of China’s broader zero-Covid policy. This included large-scale lockdowns, mandatory testing for the entire population, as well as health and location monitoring. Local authorities in other parts of the country imposed similar restrictions. Policies could change overnight, meaning residents were stuck between the uncertainty of catching Covid and ever-shifting Covid restrictions.

• Tags: Alex Li, China, Issue 32