I find this post of yours to be very informative/educational. I will now try to put some of this advice to use in my own life. Like you say, it's easy to just go with the flow of everyday life - one event (distraction) after another. But to make big-time progress you need to take a different tack.

Also, your post fits perfectly with the analogy of touring on a bicycle: Riding even a short distance every day will still get you far down the road after a few days.

We have seen the fences on the news, and short clips of people tearing them down with the "quickly removed from social media" subtitle. It's not going unnoticed in the world, if that is any solace.

As Scott mentioned we went through major downsizing and I quickly realized that I didn’t need much at all. Because we didn’t have a home and we didn’t need much we didn’t get locked down during Covid although we came close. Of course, we were lucky to be in the right place at the right time and we’re flexible. Mind you we were very careful where we went and spent all our time bicycling and hiking and avoiding people. We also got our vaccines and boosters. Just remember the most important thing is you have a wonderful wife!

Thanks Scott, yes that's a similar direction I'm taking things here. I'm not normally one to do something like this, but the covid pandemic and all things China more or less made it necessary.

Very interesting post, and one it’s easy for me to relate to - both the planning and downsizing themes. We went through very similar downsizing activities when we dispensed with 95% of our belongings five years ago and went vagabond.

Thanks Andrea, yes exactly. There's a lot of directions this could go but it's pretty obvious by now that China is unliveable. I do hope to get a few bike tours in before the exit and we're not burning bridges, but the search is on for another place to call home base. Within a year it's going to accelerate a mass exodus of foreigners and locals, could easily lose 50-75% of the expats. It's not like they'll be able to recruit any high-end talent after all this, nobody would come here

We wish you a safe exit from an untenable situation. It's awful it had to come to this after all of your years in China but I was hoping you and your wife would leave. Sometimes in life you gotta bounce.

I’m glad to hear you’re getting out! You definitely don’t need a lot of stuff to be happy but you do need freedom. I hope it all goes well!

I’m so sorry, Steve. We think of you every day.

This is so nightmarish.

It's an interesting theory. Actually all this makes the healthy people suffer on purpose by depriving them of proper nutrition, exercise, vitamin D, and rest among other things. Prolonged suffering in these stay-at-home lockdowns will wear down the natural immunity of healthy people and leave them more susceptible to catching covid. As for why they are doing this, I don't know. The elderly are mainly unvaccinated and these lockdown measures primarily help them, otherwise there really would be hundreds of deaths per day (mostly co-morbidities). So they're trying to save the elderly who didn't get a vaccine while also killing those like us who did

I might be injecting more imagination into this than reality, but dots seem to be connecting... With all the emphasis on health (covid) there seems little or no recognition of survival by those in charge. The bigger picture might be a push to make the old and infirm die off due to the stresses and ease up medical (political/financial) pressures that they introduce into the system, but that's merely wild speculation in an era of much fringe thinking.

Hi Noreen, thanks for your encouragement. It's ok, I wouldn't expect anyone to really understand what's going on in China, that's why I'm trying to get as much first-hand stories out as possible. Yes you're completely right about the inhumanity and I touched more on that in my latest entry with a counter-story about helping someone out. As horrifying as this lockdown is, the hope that's keeping me going is a well-crafted plan to eventually achieve freedom. I honestly don't know the details myself yet but it's working out.

Hi Steve,

you write very well, so I'm truly horrified when I read your words. Thank you very much for sharing your experience.

News coverage here in Germany of the situation in Shanghai has been sparse, but since Friday, more and more newspapers are picking up on it.

I just want to let you know that I'm aware of your situation, although to be honest I don't really change anything being pampered, safe and free in Western Europe (despite some covidiots claiming the opposite). I sincerely hope that you'll soon be able to freely go where the wind will blow you and fulfill your cycle touring plans in the near future. No human being should be treated like you are right now.

Hang in there!

Noreen

This gets more nightmarish by the day. It’s like watching episodes of the Handmaid’s Tale.