Travelers arrive at Hong Kong’s Lok Ma Chau border post on the first day of China’s reopening of the border amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Hong Kong, China January 8, 2023. Photo Credit: Reuters
Travelers began crossing land and sea crossings from Hong Kong to China on January 8, many eager for long-awaited reunification, as Beijing opened borders that had been closed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. have since closed.
After three years, China is opening its border with Hong Kong and eliminating the need to quarantine incoming travelers, ending the last pillar of a zero-Covid policy that protected Chinese people from the virus but cut them off from the rest of the world. World.
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China’s easing over the past month of one of the world’s strictest COVID regimes has sparked historic protests against a policy that included relentless testing, curbs on movement and a massive lockdown that has taken a heavy toll on the second-largest economy .
“I’m very happy, very happy, very excited. I haven’t seen my parents for many years,” Hong Kong resident Teresa Chow said as she and dozens of other commuters arrived at Hong Kong’s Lok Ma Chow checkpoint on Sunday morning. Prepared to enter China from
“My parents aren’t in good health, and I couldn’t go back to see them, even when they had colon cancer, so I’m really happy to go back and see them,” she said, adding that she plans to go to her hometown in the city of Ningbo in eastern China.
Investors hope the reopening will revive the $17 trillion economy, which is suffering the slowest growth rate in nearly half a century. But the sudden policy reversal has triggered a massive wave of infections that is overwhelming some hospitals and causing business disruption.
The opening of the border follows the start of “Chun Yun” on Saturday, the first 40-day period of Lunar New Year travel, the world’s largest annual migration of people returning to their hometowns to take a vacation with family before the pandemic. Was. The government says around 2 billion people are expected to travel this season, almost double last year’s movement and will recover to 70% of 2019 levels.
Many Chinese are also expected to start traveling abroad, a long-awaited shift to tourist destinations in countries such as Thailand and Indonesia, though many governments—worried about China’s COVID spike—curtailed the country’s travelers Have been
Analysts say travel will not quickly return to pre-pandemic levels due to factors such as the lack of international flights.
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China also resumed issuing passports and travel visas for mainland residents and ordinary visas and residence permits for foreigners on Sunday. Beijing has a quota on the number of people who can travel between Hong Kong and China every day.
Videos posted on Chinese social media showed workers at Shanghai’s Pudong airport taking down bright blue boards marking routes through its international terminal overnight in an attempt to enforce a rule Travelers arriving from abroad are required to quarantine for eight days upon arrival.
Other videos showed people emotionally embracing as they reunited at the airport gate.
At Hong Kong’s Lok Ma Chau checkpoint, a driver who gave only his surname Yip said he was among those who couldn’t wait to travel to the mainland.
“It’s been three years, we don’t have time to delay,” he said.