In Photos: Alicia Lu Lin Captures the Quiet Moments of a Capital in Quarantine

Tom Arnstein | Mar 13, 2020 8:30 am | Add a comment | 563 reads

When Alicia Lin returned to China after an 11-year break, she couldn't have imagined that the country, and later the world, was on the cusp of a major virus outbreak. The Tianjin-born photographer and architect, eager to reacquaint herself with the city, took the opportunity to explore, documenting the empty streets and the few people who remained outside, wandering alone out of boredom or for work.

"I started my new job just after Chinese New Year, during the coronavirus outbreak in Beijing. It was a very intense time and the whole city was in a kind of paranoid mode," explains Lin. "I started to take pictures on the way back and forth to work. I live in the hutongs around Lama Temple but work in the hutongs of Dashilar near Qianmen, so every day I cycle past the Forbidden City and the surrounding hutongs."

Because she hasn't left throughout, Lin has been granted more freedom than those who have recently returned, moving through the city while others nearby are held to the city's strict quarantine standards. "The guy living below my flat came back from Hubei and the neighborhood committee decided to place a camera plus two guards outside of his door 24/7 to check that he completed his 14-day quarantine, even though he already tested negative for the coronavirus. The camera beeps every time I walk past."

Below, Lin shares some of her photographs, spanning the snowy beginnings of Chinese New Year until now, as the city as it slowly comes back to life. "During my weekend trips to the Temple of Heaven and the Temple of Earth, I see that people have started hanging out in the parks on sunny days."