Wei is general manager of Easy Tour China, and would like share his life in Guilin, Southwest China, during the coronavirus epidemic period.
April 02, 2020, cold snap from north China goes on. Raining
The provincial government distributed 268yuan worth of coupon thru Alipay. But how can the old folks without alipay APP on their phone (and many of the phone are not smart phones) get the coupons? My mom does not have a smart phone. My dad uses a smart phone but his does not use Alipay. So both of them did not get the coupon.
April 3, 2020 Raining
An old friend shared Dr. Wu Jun's approach to the virus. Quite interesting and educational. It says the large amount of free radicals released by the increased immunary system during infection also seriously damaged the regular functions of our internal organs, like lung, liver and heart. It is time to take in large amount of anti-oxidants to inhibit the free radicals.
Vitamin C & E helps reduce the free radicals. Tomato, oatmeal and green tea contains large amount of anti-oxidants so it is important to keep a regular consumption of these food. These foods are inexpensive but often neglected. I remember an ex-colleague shared with me about his surgeon doctor father's habit of taking 2 tomatoes each day and staying away from cold & flu for most of his life. Tomato contains possibly the nature's largest amount of Lycopene, an active anti-oxidant.
Dr Wu also suggests we drink large amount of liquid if infected, as fever causes dedydration. Chicken soup and light salty water all helps. Constant urination will get rid of the toxins in the body. Herbs like common goldenrod, Nan Ban Lan Gen, and Honeysuckles also helps, though large amount of intake of herbal medication also causes side effects.
And I doubt if the coronavirus will ever affect the Fishy Smelly Grass eaters in some southern China provinces. The grass's official name is Houttuynia Cordata and some people call it Chameleon Plant, Lizard Tail, Fishwort, or Bishop's Weed. It has certain functions of fighting bacteria and virus and has been used as a traditional Chinese medicine. My brother-in-law loves it but I hate it, though from time to time I eat some, not to offend my chef friend who prepares it for the dinner table.
But it all sounds great, no matter this herb or that herb. As virus comes from nature, let's find some healing powers from the nature. I will definitely go for more tomatos and green tea.
April 04, 2020 Saturday, Qingming Festival
It is the day we pay tribute to the dead every year. And today the mourning siren was sounded for 3 minutes to mourn the deceased during the coronavirus hit. At 10.00 in the morning, TV showed national mourning and I stood with my wife and son at home in front of the TV to mourn the dead.
Then we drove off to the burial ground for my wife's father and then the grounds for her father's parents and grand parents. Cleaning the tomb is definitely the act to show our respect. It is always good to teach children about this. When I die, I would like my child to bury my ashes under some fruit trees so they can come pick fruits and think of his father. And I think the ashes of our ancestors all end up that way, turning into rice or sweet potatoes. What a grand recycling!
My order of Maofeng (Green) Tea arrived. Hurray! When colleagues are back to work on next Tuesday, I will surely share with some of them.
Read a bit on the online news and could see still many people are strongly biased - it is the media that brainwashed people. It is very important for us to stay alive in tourism and promote travel so people will have more first hand knowledge and understanding.
April 07, 2020 Sunny
Peicy is back from Hubei province, where Wuhan is the capital. How glad are we to meet her again! She had to go thru a voluntary isolation requested by her community for some 14 days.
Paul's brother's family all caught Covid-19 in England. After some fever and coughing, everyone is back to normal. Hurray!
It seems there could be more and more asymptomatic cases as the virus spreads around and eventually I think it will die down and become part of us for the future. Isn't it true that virus always beat virologist!
Went to see my teacher at Taiji class. I am glad to hear him say the virus will die down in May, according to the mythical Yiching's calculation.
April 08, 2020 Sunny
Wuhan lockdown was lifted! Wuhan people are allowed to travel to other places in China. The past 2.5 months was indeed very tough times for them. Let's welcome them with a big smile!
Went for a walk after lunch break in the beautiful sunshine. Dropped by Yipin Tea House for a chat. Tea House is always the place where people share rumours, daily life and everything. It is good to see Han, the owner, in good spirits, though his business for March dropped by 75%. Luckily he bought the shop instead of renting. We tasted the freshly made green tea of spring 2020 made by him. He is possibly the only tea house owner in Guilin who knows how to make tea. That is from his father who was the chief of the Tea Research Institute.
April 17, 2020 Overcast
All the past week the streets of Guilin looked normal, with people commuting back and forth between work and home. But there were still not many people in restaurants. The Zengsan Restaurant (a restaurant chain) near my office has been closed. I remember in January it was full almost everyday. Noodle shops have good business as they are cheap and tasty.
Worldwide, the pandemic is still rolling on. Felt very sad for the workers who contracted the virus at Smithfield Foods pork-processing plant in South Dakota in the US, reported by BBC.
One article said the virus spread could be limited when average high daily temperature is above 22.5. I was very glad. That was what some Chinese traditional medicine doctor predicted too - when warm days are here, virus will be gone.
Glad to see the CCTV is broadcasting the great work of the health people. We do need to thank them all for what they achieved so far, for their sacrifices. As for wearing facial masks, we still stick to it whenever a crowd is present, in an elevator and other indoors public areas. It at least stop the coughing droplets from any sick people - it should be at least practised till the hot days.