Photographer Captures Shanghai During Coronavirus Outbreak, And The City Of 24M People Looks Haunting (32 Pics)
The coronavirus has currently affected 28 territories around the world but is concentrated in mainland China. The country accounts for 42,638 confirmed cases out of the 43,104 global ones, and 1,016 deaths out of the total of 1,018.
However, numbers don't necessarily paint a good picture of how the epidemic has changed the country. Photos do. And visual storyteller Nicoco shared a personal project that achieves just that.
One Person City is a photo series that documents Shanghai during the coronavirus outbreak. It does an excellent job of revealing the ghostly emptiness, isolation, and fear that the virus has inflicted on the 24-million-people metropolis, giving us a better understanding of what the locals are actually going through.
More info: nicoco.co | Instagram
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"One Person City began as a curiosity to see how a sleepless, major international city would react to uncertainty," Nicoco told Bored Panda. "The coronavirus only became nationwide news after Wuhan was quarantined in late January. I set out to explore a few days afterward, which coincided with the official Chinese New Year celebration. My experience visiting popular Chinese sites during the New Year festivities is similar to being in New York City during the New Year ball drop. It is crowded, crowded, very crowded. It was so crowded that I decided from my singular experience in 2014 to never go out during the holiday again."
At first, Nicoco didn't know what to expect. Eventually, the photographer found emptiness filled with fear. "My experience living in Shanghai during the coronavirus outbreak ... [could be described as] isolation. It's more than people avoiding areas they think will be crowded. It's people not leaving their homes entirely. In hindsight, I vastly underestimated the Chinese memory of SARS from 2002. Over several days of biking, walking, and metro-ing around the city, most of the people I saw were janitorial staff, security officers, and cashiers. It is a Where's Waldo? of millions of people. There are many faces to the pandemic, yet for most, it will seemingly have no face at all."
It looks like the spectator is isolated and watching through a hospital window....
All of this is really different from what Nicoco had experienced before. "I've been living in Shanghai for about six years. It is an amazing city where you see elders in tracksuits doing synchronized dancing, feel safe running late at night as a woman, and can access much of East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is a place of rich history where change happens instantaneously. In the time I have been privileged to live here, I've watched Shanghai transform from a cash-based society to completely mobile payments. Thousands of public bikes have seemingly materialized from air, and new metro stations open every year. In the '90s, people saw Tokyo as the city of the future. Today, that city is Shanghai."
I get chill bumps looking at these empty photographs. I'd love to be there, under different circumstances, though which, I have no idea... It must have a dystopian feel about it....being all alone in a huge city! It's quite exciting, actually, until you start to think about why no one is out and about...
"The virus has robbed Chinese people from what should be the happiest time of year," Nicoco said. "People are worried about getting sick, their loved ones getting sick, resource shortages, losing their salaries, and much broader things like months of hardship that are likely ahead. The objective of One Person City is to capture what this fear looks like: it's invisible and unknown. I sneezed and a woman two meters away shot a wary glance at me, then took an extra step back."
According to Nicoco, for the past two weeks, everything has stopped. "The government extended the national holiday, and only critical businesses are allowed to open (for example, grocery stores, sanitation and water facilities, etc.). Everything's empty. Fresh products were completely bought out. As of Monday, February 10th, most businesses are allowed to reopen, but the city remains eerily empty as people stay self quarantined in their homes. There is a lot of anxiety in the air."
Working on the series made Nicoco think about class privilege a lot. "As I traveled around the city and saw primarily low-wage workers such as sales clerks, janitors, and security guards, it was when I realized these people would be considered more fortunate than workers who are unpaid during this period or simply fired."
However, there were moments of levity as well. "On one day, I biked down streets filled with laundry hanging off every railing, street pole, and tree in sight. On another day, I saw a long queue for (of all things) bubble milk tea. These are much-appreciated signs that despite the very legitimate fears and concerns, life still goes on and the city will eventually come back to life."
and all of those buildings are empty or close to empty ... mind boggling
That’s a nice view. I would love to go there once all of this blows over! Hopefully.
Does anyone else see the irony in how clear the air is in these images? I am sad for people who need to earn livings, and products that are either unavailable, or going to waste because no one is going out to buy them, but the virus that is keeping people inside is also keeping vehicles and factories on stand by, leaving the air a lot cleaner. Less pollutants in the air is good news for the people sickened by the virus!
My company's Chinese sales representative is located in Shanghai and he told me via e-mail he could have the entire city almost to himself, but he doesn't want to go out unless it's absolutely necessary. You never know.
I for one have to wonder how real the "official numbers" are coming from China. I suspect they are low balling the numbers to save face and to not hurt their long term economy and maintain power and control.
That's just eerie...especially considering the population of Shanghai.
Wherever you are in the world, please take care of yourselves. WASH YOUR HANDS! On average, we touch our face some 23 times per hour! Viruses, even airborne ones, usually hitch a ride on our very own hands in order to be taken to the mouth, nose, or eyes. Since the beginning of January, it has not been a question about if the novel coronavirus is going to spread to where you live, the question is only WHEN. So, dear friends and strangers, eat well, get enough sleep, and wash your hands!
The people in China are trying to post what is truely going on but they tend to disappear real quick after posting. Like all socialist's nations they maintain people control by over welling force, control the news, intimidation and reeducation by regular torture and beatings. Wasn't it Burnie election committee that bragged about how good gulags are?
Interesting that in just a short time of their production not running, and car traffic dramatically reduced has created a much more beautiful, blue skyline.
Any Disease Outbreak is terrible, I feel for the people of China. But according to the Article, there have been 1018 deaths of the Coronavirus- less than a tenth of the Average deaths from Influenza Annually worldwide. 20% of the Population is Chinese, the reports of the impacts of the Coronavirus are largely Exaggerated
I feel bad for the people who need to make rent. Kinda hard to be a waiter making money if there is no one to wait on and so on.
This is super weird..... All my relatives live in Shanghai, and I'm used to seeing people on every. single. centimetre of land. Especially at the food court.
Influencer selfie heaven. They will never get another chance to get photos like these! (I am not making light of the situation, just making fun of influencers.)
It's crazy thinking that this is a city with a population of 24 million. You would never know by looking at these pictures.
And what about the “markets” where these poor “wild” animals are caged up??? Are they still there??? Have they been set free??? Or are they still suffering/crying out, in some filthy cage, waiting for their imminent, brutal, slaughter????
Fell in the love with Shanghai 2 years ago when I first visited. Booked airtix last Dec to travel there for a holiday end of April but sadly had to cancel today due to the current situation. Well, next time I guess. Hopefully the situation will get better soon. Go China!
Lol. Trade war. Lol. More like bio war. Scary how quickly we took them down.
My company's Chinese sales representative is located in Shanghai and he told me via e-mail he could have the entire city almost to himself, but he doesn't want to go out unless it's absolutely necessary. You never know.
I for one have to wonder how real the "official numbers" are coming from China. I suspect they are low balling the numbers to save face and to not hurt their long term economy and maintain power and control.
That's just eerie...especially considering the population of Shanghai.
Wherever you are in the world, please take care of yourselves. WASH YOUR HANDS! On average, we touch our face some 23 times per hour! Viruses, even airborne ones, usually hitch a ride on our very own hands in order to be taken to the mouth, nose, or eyes. Since the beginning of January, it has not been a question about if the novel coronavirus is going to spread to where you live, the question is only WHEN. So, dear friends and strangers, eat well, get enough sleep, and wash your hands!
The people in China are trying to post what is truely going on but they tend to disappear real quick after posting. Like all socialist's nations they maintain people control by over welling force, control the news, intimidation and reeducation by regular torture and beatings. Wasn't it Burnie election committee that bragged about how good gulags are?
Interesting that in just a short time of their production not running, and car traffic dramatically reduced has created a much more beautiful, blue skyline.
Any Disease Outbreak is terrible, I feel for the people of China. But according to the Article, there have been 1018 deaths of the Coronavirus- less than a tenth of the Average deaths from Influenza Annually worldwide. 20% of the Population is Chinese, the reports of the impacts of the Coronavirus are largely Exaggerated
I feel bad for the people who need to make rent. Kinda hard to be a waiter making money if there is no one to wait on and so on.
This is super weird..... All my relatives live in Shanghai, and I'm used to seeing people on every. single. centimetre of land. Especially at the food court.
Influencer selfie heaven. They will never get another chance to get photos like these! (I am not making light of the situation, just making fun of influencers.)
It's crazy thinking that this is a city with a population of 24 million. You would never know by looking at these pictures.
And what about the “markets” where these poor “wild” animals are caged up??? Are they still there??? Have they been set free??? Or are they still suffering/crying out, in some filthy cage, waiting for their imminent, brutal, slaughter????
Fell in the love with Shanghai 2 years ago when I first visited. Booked airtix last Dec to travel there for a holiday end of April but sadly had to cancel today due to the current situation. Well, next time I guess. Hopefully the situation will get better soon. Go China!
Lol. Trade war. Lol. More like bio war. Scary how quickly we took them down.