China Takes Off Their Masks at Last

On June 24 in Wangpujing, a thriving street in Beijing, China, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that Beijing would be released from the list of SARS-infected regions in two months. Shop owners cheered and shared joy from the news with citizens out on the street.

At expensive restaurants located in Ssanritoon, Chaoyang, where the foreign embassies are concentrated, many young people showed their elation with their beer mugs and restaurants remained open until dawn.

Even though national trust has been damaged and there was enormous economic loss due to the disaster, many see that this might be a chance for misfortune turning into a blessing in preparation with the 2008 Olympics with the regained confidence in the government and improvement in sanitation measures for the country.

Changed Customs

Joonggawwangtoong, a Chinese Internet communication company, requested Runjoongrunta, a consigned training organization, last week for an employee training program. The program included walking on a single rope on a cliff but the majority of the training was scheduled with such activities of tug-of-war, team sports, and free discussion time between the senior and junior employees of the company.

“If the former training programs focus on achievement of the company`s goals, the focus on training will be changed to such themes of union and cooperation within the company and recovery of self-esteem after the SARS incident,” stated Ssoonweri, a representative at Runjoonrunta.

The appetite of the Chinese people has changed as well after the SARS incident. There has been a great decrease in the number of people who are eating special dishes from Gwangdung, such as wild bird or other meat dishes. This is due to an indication that SARS has spread in China due to the habit of eating meat from animals raised in dirty environments.

Moreover, the disaster brought changes to the 3,000 year-old eating habits of the Chinese people. China is changing its tradition of sharing dishes with many people using spoons, and are now using a joint spoon or individual plates.

It is a great gain that the level of sanitation and health awareness has increased. The bad habits of spitting, littering, and excreting anywhere are slowly disappearing.

Rumors that kimchi prevented the spread of SARS, and not even one Korean was infected with the contagious disease, the consumption of Korean`s national dish increased in the country. “Kimchi has become quite popular. Only 10 bags of kimchi were sold on a daily basis at Carrefour in Beijing but now over 150 bags are selling daily,” said Woon Yong Jeong, director of the agricultural product circulation corporation in Beijing.

Political and Economical Effects

The Central Construction Meeting held by the Chinese guidiance division in Beidaiheo, a summer resort, every year since Mao Tsedong, will be held in Beijing this year. The Hong Kong Economic Daily analyzes that such decision was made based on consideration of the citizens of Beijing who suffered greatly from the outbreak of SARS.

SARS has been an encouraging opportunity for the fourth guidiance division of Chief Hujin Tao, Prime Minister Won Zabao, and others, which has previously been considered a weak organization. By boldly accepting the faults of hiding and reducing SARS and taking part in actively resolving the issue such as site inspection, etc., the guidance division has sealed its image as an organization in line with the citizen`s best interests.

However, the previously estimated economic growth rate of 8% has been reset to 7%. Another problem is that about 5 ~ 10% of the 50 million people in the fields of tourism, hotel, restaurants and construction have lost their jobs due to SARS.

yshwang@donga.com