Business owners in Shanghai rebuild after lockdown, psychologist says children affected

Record ID: 1675290

  • Title: Business owners in Shanghai rebuild after lockdown, psychologist says children affected
  • Date: 2nd June 2022
  • Summary: SHANGHAI, CHINA (JUNE 2, 2022) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CAFE STORE OWNER, IRIS QI, CLEANING TABLES QI WEARING A FACE MASK AND WORKING QI WORKING BEHIND THE BAR COUNTER QI CLEANING GLASS QI WORKING AT THE BAR COUNTER QI WASHING HANDS IN SINK / CLEANING GLASSES (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CAFE STORE OWNER, IRIS QI, SAYING: "So I think it includes anxiety, because I still have fixed expenses, including land loan and land rental. So it's hard to fall asleep every night. I am very anxious. Now I can go to work, but I am not ready for it mentally. I think emotional things require a very long process to adjust." BARBER, MARTIN LI, WALKING TO LOCATION OF FORMER SALON LI ENTERING THE PASSWORD FOR THE DOOR LI ENTERING FORMER SALON / TURNING ON LIGHTS LI WALKING IN FORMER SALON LI PICKING UP HAIR CUTTING SCISSORS (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) BARBER, MARTIN LI, SAYING: "We contacted our landlord on May 23, during the epidemic. Then it was officially announced that our store was closed, ending our contract. From that time on, our store was not ours. But due to the epidemic, we can't move things out. We spent the whole day yesterday moving our stuff out and into my friend's store." LI WALKING IN FORMER SALON LI SMOKING LI WALKING IN FORMER SALON MIRRORS IN SALON (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) BARBER, MARTIN LI, SAYING: "My shop was doing very well at the time (pre-pandemic). We have many customers every day and the amount of business we were getting was enough for us to survive. But affected by the epidemic, we couldn't survive. I asked a lot of our friends, and many stores will close too. Because not many stores can survive the epidemic for two to three months without any income." LI WORKING INSIDE FRIEND'S SALON LI LOOKING ON LI CUTTING HAIR FOR CUSTOMER LI ASKING CUSTOMER (English): "DO YOU KNOW HOW TO PUT MY SHOP INFORMATION ON GOOGLE?" / CUSTOMER REPLYING (English): "NO."
  • Embargoed: 16th June 2022 12:16
  • Keywords: China Shanghai barbershop children close depression lockdown mental psychology suicide trauma
  • Location: SHANGHAI, CHINA
  • City: SHANGHAI, CHINA
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Asia / Pacific,Health/Medicine
  • Reuters ID: LVA002222002062022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Small business owners in Shanghai looked to rebuild on Thursday (June 2), after the city's two-month COVID-19 lockdown was eased on June 1.
    While China has declared victory over the virus in Shanghai, residents are grappling with the trauma of their experience.
    Iris Qi, who started her own cafe in May 2021, was one of those.
    Qi says she has barely received any income in the past three months, but still has to pay quarterly rental rates for her store of around 100,000 yuan ($14,957).
    "It's hard to fall asleep every night. I am very anxious," she said about the losses she was incurring.
    Qi plans to reopen for business but isn't expecting a fast recovery with dining-in still not allowed within the business hub.
    Recovery for her mental state will take time too.
    "Now I can go to work, but I am not ready for it mentally. I think emotional things require a very long process to adjust," Qi said, adding that was undecided about continuing when the lease for her store was up.
    For barber Martin Li, the first day of freedom in Shanghai meant returning to his salon to pack up and move out, after he was told his store had been repossessed during the lockdown, effectively winding up his business.
    Li's salon, which first opened in 2019, was attracting a foreign clientele pre-pandemic, but many of his customers have now left amid the unpredictable life that comes hand-in-hand with China’s continuing zero-COVID strategy.
    The 24-year-old told Reuters having to close his shop was "painful".
    "Not many stores can survive the epidemic for two to three months without any income,” he said, as he worked from a temporary location inside a friend's store.
    To a clinical psychologist, Sharon Yen, young children and adolescents would feel the effects of a lockdown too.
    Yen says some children, many of whom have been studying at home, would have been affected with disrupted routines, a loss of personal contact, and a blurring of boundaries.
    She expects to see more kids coming through her doors seeking help but said it was the ones that needed help but weren't receiving it due to a stigma around mental illnesses in China that worried her even more.
    “Over time, they just kind of like lost motivation to do things that they used to enjoy,” Yen said.
    (Production: Xihao Jiang, Xiaoyu Yin)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2022. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register