WUHAN, May 8 -- Wuhan, once hit hard by COVID-19, has seen its urban life gradually return to normal since its lockdown was lifted one month ago.
LIFE HEADING BACK TO NORMAL
Taking a subway early in the morning to a breakfast store about 7 km from home, Yang Jing gobbled a bowl of noodles with sliced beef and took away five fried stuffed buns.
"Life returns with my favorite breakfast," said the man in his 20s.
The 100-meter-long street Yang just visited was filled with breakfast vendors peddling all kinds of food with different flavors -- a typical sight in Wuhan, a city fussy about food.
Hubu Alley, a famous snack street that tourists usually mark on their itinerary, reopened for business from May. The aroma of sesame sauce emitted from Wuhan's signature hot dry noodles filled the alley again after over 100 days.
According to Liu Guoliang, president of the Wuhan Dining Industry Association, among the over 50,000 restaurants in the city, 13.3 percent have resumed eat-in service and 45.6 percent restarted takeout service. The daily number of food delivery orders has exceeded 100,000 in the city.
Meanwhile, traffic flow in the city returned to the same level as that before the epidemic, and all subways and buses have resumed operation.
Convenient public transportation has whetted citizens' willingness to go out. Setting up four tents, Zeng Lingling and her family enjoyed a picnic by the lakeside.
"After a long time at home, this is our first family trip. The blue sky, clear water, flowers and beautiful scenery remain the same, but our mentality has changed," said Zeng.
About 57,800 students in their final year from 121 high and vocational schools returned to campus on Wednesday in Wuhan.
At 7:30 a.m., Zong Zheng carried a box of books while walking into Wuhan No. 17 High School.
"I gained some weight at home, so I'm worried that my classmates might not be able to recognize me. I'll have my first exam of the semester on Friday, hopefully my grades won't drop too harshly," said Zong.
Chen Shufei, a senior student at Hubei Wuchang Experimental High School, changed the number of days left in the countdown to the national college entrance examination at the front of the classroom from 138 to 62.
When Chen began her winter holiday on Jan. 20, the 18-year-old did not expect it would be for so long.
"I'm both excited and nervous to be back on campus, and I hope I can re-adjust as soon as possible and enter my dream university," said Chen. She aspires to study at Wuhan University.
On May 20, another 73,000 students in their final year of junior high school in Wuhan will also return to campus to start their postponed new semester.
A COMEBACK AT "CHINA SPEED"
As Wuhan people's lives gradually come back to normal, the city is accelerating the resumption of work and production.
A labor skills competition was launched Friday at the Wuhan Optics Valley, one of the most economically active areas in Hubei and home to more than 100,000 tech companies, with some 300 migrant construction workers in safety helmets and reflective vests attending an oath-taking rally.
The valley saw the settlement of U.S. industrial conglomerate Honeywell's newly registered wholly owned subsidiary Huosheng Industrial Technology Co., Ltd. last month, as its headquarters for the company's mass-mid segment business in China.
It was the first Fortune 500 company to set up an independent legal entity in Wuhan since the epidemic outbreak.
The city held its first "cloud investment fair" on April 8, with 69 key projects worth a total of 245.1 billion yuan (about 34.6 billion U.S. dollars) signed. A hundred major projects started two days later.
As the main pillar industry in Hubei, the revival of the automotive industry is key to stabilizing the province's economy and promoting its development.
Dongfeng Honda Automobile Co., Ltd., a joint venture between China's Dongfeng Motor Corp. and Japan's Honda Motor Co., resumed production on March 11 and has so far restored its production capacity to the peak level of more than 3,000 vehicles per day, with one new car rolled off the production line every 50 seconds.
The automaker also announced in mid-April that its third factory had gone into operation in Wuhan, which will initially be capable of producing 120,000 cars a year and its annual capacity will reach 240,000 in the future.
The rebooting of the leading enterprise has spurred the whole industrial chain, driving more than 500 auto-parts suppliers back to work.
ANTI-VIRUS A NEW NORMAL
Though the emergency response level has been lowered in Wuhan, its anti-virus measures have remained. Nearly 20,000 community workers, over 50,000 volunteers and 50,000 officials and police officers were sent to prevent infection in over 1,400 residential communities across the city.
"Everyone, no matter how familiar, has to show me their pass card in or out," said a security guard at a community in Wuchang District. In addition to the pass, one has to take temperature, scan a QR code and register to pass the gate.
During rush hours, more community workers will be sent to take temperature and register residents and vehicles in and out.
Residents in Wuhan use automatic sterilizer to disinfect their packages taken from delivery lockers, and keep some distance at shop entrances while waiting for body temperature measurement and code scanning. Everybody behaves.