Reflections from ghost town Taipei
An epidemic lurks around the corner during Lunar New Year
The expat carries on, sweating profusely with a belly full of steamed pork dumplings and rice. He grunts as he adjusts his sunglasses and checks his smart phone for the local metro entrance. The humidity and air pollution caught him off guard. It’s a hot afternoon in Taipei in January, giving away a glimpse of what is to come in a few months. Things are looking up for this Caucasian wanderer, desperately dragging a Carrefour shopping bag with familiar Western products and some select ‘local’ products along. Tomorrow it will rain and the air will be purified. For a while at least.
On the other side of the road, a local man is scrubbing for his life. His shop has to look brand new before he closes down. The comfy, green streets are bustling with similar activity. The Lunar New Year is right around the corner, it’s time to get a move on. Pack up shop and skip town, there’s red envelopes to distribute. Complain about annoying relatives later, after you had a feast.
It’s the time of the year when Taipei temporarily transforms into a ghost town for a few days. Most people will travel down south on the island for the festivities. A large group will reunite with their loved ones in China or in other continents. The sweaty expats and a few lonely souls are left behind to hold the fort. Desperately in search of an open bar, club or restaurant to have a good time, they will fulfill this questionable duty with patience. The good times will be back next week, they mutter over their 200 NTD beer tankards.
Being a drunk in Taipei never appealed to me. The city radiates too much good old honest work. Dragging your intoxicated self from the Revolver bar back to your den over the Chiang Kai-Shek memorial square in the morning and catching the almost-disappointed looks from the elderly Tai Chi enthusiasts is a shame that will not befall on me. There is a performance to be made here, damn it! The industry is calling on me, but the calendar decided to mess with my ambitions once again.
The next week will be a crucial one for Taiwan. Probably for Asia and the rest of the world as well. As the hard working shopkeeper returns to run his business again, the rest of the people will follow suit to repopulate the city. And with that crowd, the possible dangers of an epidemic travels in their wake.
Over the last weeks, a new strain of coronavirus has unleashed itself from a seafood market in Wuhan into China, Asia and eventually other far-away parts of the world. An airborne virus that transmits through human interaction and develops symptoms such as a cough, fever and even pneumonia. A perfect nightmare scenario to combine with China’s most beloved holiday, that will see millions of Chinese people migrate all over the world and subsequently fold back the next week. A possible SARS outbreak with a global, jet-powered engine as back-up. In total, more than forty people have already died and hundreds are confirmed to be infected. Several countries in Asia have seen confirmed cases, as well as the US and a handful of European nations. It’s not hard to imagine that thousands more are carrying the virus with them on their way to family parties abroad. Not showing signs of infection yet, but inhibiting the bug.
It’s no surprise that the moods are anxious among the loners in Taipei. Nervous chatter about the virus overtakes the usual orientalism-fueled talks about local girls and food. I set out to buy disposable masks the next day. Better safe than sorry, I thought along with thousands of other consumers. The mask shelves in most convenience stores were completely sold out. Someone out there is making a killing on this international health crisis.
The Chinese government’s means of dealing with the crisis are straight up questionable. Quarantining several cities over the weekend and constructing a hospital specifically designed to deal with the epidemic might get some applause from the WHO, but many questions about China’s situation remain unanswered. The horror stories and appalling videos of a Wuhan on lock down, full of people in need of medical assistance, are flooding social media.
Meanwhile, that same WHO is excluding China’s close neighbor Taiwan from emergency health talks. Just like during the 2003 SARS outbreak. The country has seen three confirmed cases of the coronavirus and word on the street is that a lot more will follow when people return to the usual rat race in Taipei. It’s all hearsay and speculation at this point, though. Taiwan learned a lot of valuable lessons from the SARS crisis and is monitoring airports and taking other preemptive measures, like setting up an emergency ward and stocking up on medicine to disperse.
Taiwan is being tested for the second time this year. While its first trial was a matter of freedom, self-governing and democracy, this new crisis is one of national ability and global health. Will Formosa stand tall again? The sweaty expats on working holidays and 7–11 employees don’t seem to care. The year of the rat is on the doorstep and the work comes with a doubled salary this week. Good old honest work.
Text & Photos by Jeremy Van der Haegen
