Matthew Bossons

Este archivo solo abarca los artículos del autor incorporados a este sitio a partir del 1 de diciembre de 2006. Para fechas anteriores realice una búsqueda entrecomillando su nombre.

People line up last week for Covid-19 screening in a market enclosed by a temporary wall in Guangzhou, China. Julien Tan/FeatureChina/AP

MundoAsia, , ,

In the lead-up to China’s Communist Party Congress last month, watercooler chatter in many offices here focused on a single question: Will the Congress abandon its zero-Covid policy?

It didn’t take long for an answer. In his opening speech, Chinese President Xi Jinping reaffirmed the nation’s commitment to zero-Covid — a stance made all the more inviolable since securing his unprecedented third term.

I can confirm that zero-Covid is alive and well. In the weeks since Xi’s speech, I’ve had dozens of nucleic acid tests, canceled a domestic work trip and seen multiple colleagues hauled off to quarantine hotels or locked down at home.…  Seguir leyendo »

Chinese tourist information clerks wear protective masks and visors at their desk in the departures area of Beijing International Airport, March 2020.

MundoAsia, ,

When word began circulating on social media and in group chats in mid-September that one of China’s top health officials was warning citizens to avoid physical contact with foreigners as a precaution against monkeypox, the news hit me with an unshakable anxiousness.

The recommendation was the first of five issued by Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist at China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in response to mainland China’s first monkeypox case in the southwestern municipality of Chongqing.

Wu blasted the advice out to his nearly half a million followers on Weibo, China’s heavily censored version of Twitter, and it was quickly picked up and further publicized by state-backed media outlets.…  Seguir leyendo »

Un tramo seco del río Jialing, un importante afluente del río Yangtsé, en Chongqing, China. Stringer/EPA vía Shutterstock

MundoAsiaReflexionesNaturaleza, ,

El mes pasado viajé con mi esposa y mi hija de cinco años para ir a acampar desde nuestra casa en el suroeste de China.

Nuestro destino era una región de la provincia de Sichuan en la que ríos de agua clara bajan de los Himalayas por entre valles estrechos antes de irrigar las fértiles tierras bajas que ayudan a alimentar al país más poblado del mundo. Mi hija, Evelyn, aprendió a nadar el año pasado y estábamos deseosos de zambullirnos en las frescas y espectaculares pozas de las montañas.

Lo que pasó más bien fue que nos encontramos con una prueba atroz de las consecuencias del cambio climático causadas por la histórica ola de calor en China este verano: paisajes devastados, ciudades paralizadas y poblaciones llevadas al extremo.…  Seguir leyendo »