Others expressed hope the New Year would herald China’s return to pre-pandemic life.
“I lived and worked under COVID throughout 2022… I hope 2023 is when everything can go back to what it was before 2020,” said one user based in the neighbouring province of Jiangsu.
WUHAN
In the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the pandemic began three years ago, tens of thousands of people gathered to celebrate amid a heavy security presence.
Barricades were erected and hundreds of police officers and other security workers stood guard on the night of the first large scale spontaneous gathering in the city since nationwide protests in late November – soon after which Chinese authorities all but abandoned the zero-COVID policy.
Officers shuttled people away from at least one popular New Year’s Eve gathering point and used loudspeakers at various locations blasting out a short message on a loop advising…
