WUHAN, China (Reuters) – In a busy Wuhan beer hall, Zhang Qiong wipes the birthday cake off her face after a food fight with her friends.
“After experiencing the first wave of epidemics in Wuhan and then the liberation, I feel like I’m living a second life,” said Zhang, 29, who works in a textile shop in the central Chinese city that was the original epicenter of COVID. -19.
Outside, maskless partygoers spill out onto the streets, smoke and play street games with toy machine guns and balloons.
Wuhan nightlife is back in full swing almost seven months after the city lifted its strict lockdown and the city’s young revelers embrace the catharsis.
In scenes unimaginable in many cities around the world reeling from the pandemic resurgence, on a recent night out, young Wuhan residents crowdsurfed, ate street food and packed the city’s nightclubs to celebrate. make up for lost time.
(Click reut.rs/3nC1ZdH to view a photo package of Wuhan’s nightlife)
The resurgence of the hard-hit nightlife economy offers a glimpse into a post-pandemic lifestyle that many hope will become a reality in 2021, following the global introduction of COVID-19 vaccines.
Wuhan has not reported a new locally transmitted case of the disease since May 10, after undergoing one of the toughest lockdowns in the world.
The city of 11 million inhabitants was cut off from the rest of China during a surprising nighttime shutdown on January 23, with roadblocks and planes, trains and buses not able to enter the city. Nearly 3,900 of the 4,634 registered COVID-19 deaths in China occurred in the industrial city.
Students, musicians, artists and young workers – the backbone of the city’s nightlife – told stories of being trapped in their homes for months on end, many taking the opportunity to prepare for a time when the city would recover.
“Some of my new music will certainly be about the pandemic era,” said Wang Xinghao, frontman of Wuhan-based pop rock band Mad Rat, who drew a crowd of over 100 people to a local venue on a recent Wednesday night.
Wang swung and jumped onto the stage, drawing crowdsurfing fans onto the stage, and at one point threw his faux leopard skin into the screaming audience.
He said one of the new songs was inspired by the three months he spent near his mother.
Many said the lockdown ending has inspired greater turnout.
“During the epidemic time, Wuhan was really a dead city,” rock music aficionado Yi Yi said after the show. “Now people all come out for dinner and have fun. I don’t think there were that many people before the epidemic. “
Despite the thriving nightlife, the owners of Wuhan businesses and restaurants say it may be some time before the sales increase makes up for the massive losses during the lockdown.
But for customers now flooding Wuhan’s nighttime hot spots, the message is clearer.
“I really want to cherish this time because in life you never know when it will end,” Zhang said in the Wuhan beer hall. “Make every lucky day count.”
Reporting by Cate Cadell and Thomas Suen; Editing by Lincoln Feast.