For more than a week, the rare resident of Shanghai who dared venture outside has encountered something unfamiliar: a surreal peace and quiet.
The deadly coronavirus epidemic has brought much of
China to a standstill, but perhaps nowhere has the change been more stark than in the country's biggest and most vibrant city.
Gone are the traffic jams, crowded sidewalks and businessmen hurrying to work, replaced by eerily empty roads, shuttered bars and businesses, and only the occasional pedestrians -- always behind a protective mask.