Chongming

"Empty inside Hu, who has worked in marketing and supply chains for French companies like personal-care giant L'Oreal and sports retailer Decathlon, said that in her career she "appeared happy on the outside, but felt empty inside." She now sows organic, pesticide- and fertiliser-free sweet potatoes, long beans and other crops on rented plots of land with like-minded friends on Chongming, a large, primarily agricultural island on Shanghai's outskirts.[…] Liang, who moved to Chongming three years ago, has had to rapidly learn horticulture -- his farmer neighbours and internet websites help -- while dabbling in side work online for extra income."

"At a regular press conference, an official from the Chongming district, an outlying island area, said most curbs would be kept in place, although it has reported zero cases outside quarantined areas and 90% of its 640,000-or-so residents were now in theory allowed to leave their homes."