Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 , China has recieved enthusiastic support from all sides which have become a strong fighting back. Sammy Jiang, Vice President of Luye Life Sciences Group, was on her holiday overseas when COVID-19  became severe in China. Sammy and her Chinese & international friends made every effort to support the motherland to raise the face masks. Let's follow her review and review those warm moments.

Sammy Jiang, Vice President of Luye Life Sceinces Group

 

A journey with a sudden shift of atmosphere

During the 2020 Chinese Spring Festival, my wife and I signed up for a cruise tour to Europe. Before departure, Shanghai was already facing a shortage of face masks. We started with only 2 masks, and I thought it would not be too late to buy some after we arrived in Europe, which I could send back home to support local people. But after I arrived, I found out that there were no masks left in Europe!

From Milan, Rome, Sicily, Malta, to Barcelona, I went to every pharmacy at the places I traveled to, and the answers I got were always the same: no masks! The clerks could hardly give a reply as to when masks would be made available.

On January 29th, the epidemic situation in Europe suddenly became severe, and I began to worry about how to return to China and how to protect my family during our journey. A Wuhan couple traveling in Italy was not feeling well and was sent to a Rome hospital for isolation and rescue; and a Macau tourist on a cruise ship was suspected of virus infection and the entire ship was blocked. In the evening, many European airlines suspended flights to mainland China. On January 30, the Wuhan couple was confirmed to have NCP, and the test result of the Macau tourist turned out negative, and the cruise ship was released. The nervous Italian government subsequently announced the closure of all two-way air routes between Italy and China, becoming the first country in the EU to take this measure.

 

An encouraging turnaround in the mask dilemma

A small turnaround came on January 31st. After the cruise ship docked, we ate Chinese food at the Dahua Restaurant in the old port of Marseille. During this time I worriedly talked to several Chinese tourists about the mask problem. After listening to our conversation, a Chinese boss in the restaurant said that she still had dozens of French-produced N95 masks. If we really needed them, she could sell us them at €1.50 each. I was overjoyed and quickly bought two for my wife and myself. The problem of the masks to be used for our return trip was finally solved! At that time, there was a middle-aged man who wanted to buy three, and the boss resolutely refused his request, as she wanted to provide the masks to other people in urgent need. The kindness and sentiment of an ordinary overseas Chinese are truly admirable.

February 1st was the day of disembarkation. The tourist group leader told us that the overseas Chinese in Italy managed to purchase some masks to assist the people in mainland China, but because Italy closed the air route to China, they could not be mailed back to China. Instead they were transferred to returning compatriots at cost price of €8 per box, and one family is limited to purchase one box. So we quickly bought a box, and found that the words on the mask turned out to be Hungarian! The overseas Chinese in Italy really are resourceful. With masks no longer available in Western Europe, they tried every means to buy from Hungary in Eastern Europe in order to help the motherland.

Face Mask collected from Hungary by overseas Chinese in Italy

 

Hopes of return are affirmed, with the accompanying delivering of supplies 

The issue of returning home, which we had been worrying about, has also been resolved after several setbacks. Fortunately, we booked Air China, and finally we were able to sign for the flight from Frankfurt to Chengdu and then on to Shanghai on February 2nd. Even with a 9-hour stop in Chengdu, as long as we could return home, it was not a problem!

On the evening of February 1st, the team leader asked the group if there was any spare checked-in baggage allowance to help transport some aid materials. I said straight away that I had additional quota due to my Air China Gold Card, and other tourist group members also responded to help.

After arriving at Frankfurt Airport on the morning of February 2nd, I found that the overseas Chinese who sent supplies to China had been waiting at the airport for a long time. These Chinese are from Qingtian Association, Wenzhou Association and China-German Journalist Association in Europe.  Speaking with Mr. Lai, the president of Qintian Association, I learned that it was almost impossible to buy masks in Germany. They are mobilizing all local Chinese in Germany (mostly people from local Chinese restaurants) to check all local pharmacies one by one, and managed to get two or three boxes after shopping two or three masks from each pharmacy.

Protective clothing is still available for order in Europe, but if you send them to China, you can only send them back through Amsterdam, the Netherlands, which will take one month to go through all the procedures. To ensure the delivery of the goods can be as fast as possible, they stayed at the Air China counter in Frankfurt airport (at that time, only Air China flights were available in Europe, and some countries also allowed direct flights), and the Chinese tourists who returned were kindly asked to help bring them back. They would contact their friends in Zhejiang to pick up the supplies at Shanghai Airport, and immediately send them to hospitals in Zhejiang. (Europe's largest weight for single free checked luggage is 23 kilograms, and they ensured that the packaging was exactly 23 kilograms). Frankfurt Airport does not allow them to wait at the airport with their suitcases, but they nonetheless insisted on going to the airport every day to do everything possible to send supplies to their fellow Chinese.

President Lai said that they also ordered a lot of supplies and were pressing for shipment. After hearing these stories, we were awed and moved by the altruism of our overseas compatriots!

 

Frankfurt airport consignment site

 

Smooth Arrival and Fast Hand-Over

At 10 am, we started to check in our luggage. The Air China counter took into consideration the relief supplies and relaxed the limits for us. In addition to my personal luggage, I checked in another 3 boxes of supplies. The entire 24-person tourist group worked together to successfully consign 16 boxes of supplies donated by overseas Chinese groups!

Our plane took off smoothly at 1pm on February 2nd, arrived in Chengdu at 7am on February 3rd, and arrived in Shanghai at 7pm on February 3rd. At 8 pm, 16 consignments were smoothly transferred to the pick-up drivers from Lishui and Wenzhou waiting at the airport. Because the temperature checks on the roads had been strengthened, it took more than ten hours for the drivers to reach Shanghai, and they immediately returned to Zhejiang after receiving the goods. We wanted the drivers to take a break, but they refused. Everyone involved in the relay went all out!

 

We are fighting against the virus together!

Every Chinese has sincere patriotism, and at the more critical moments, the more they are united. As the Chinese saying goes, “Do not fail to do good even if it's small”. Even small contributions are magnified by a series of butterfly effects. Goodwill and good deeds accumulate. The active participation of my tour group in the transfer of medical supplies was also inspired by the generous charity funding by overseas Chinese in France and Italy.

When travelling abroad, taking the airline of your home country is the safest bet. During this epidemic, Air China and China Eastern Airline offered free charges for ticket refunds and changes, and did their best to help tourists with changing tickets, including arranging charter flights to pick up overseas passengers to return to China.

At the time of writing this article, I received news from the WeChat group of the material transportation of the German Qingtian Association that they had successfully procured another 53,000 masks and sent them to Hangzhou by air. I think their previous orders must have been shipped on time.

God bless China, Go China!