Not Their First Rodeo: Beijing Expat Entrepreneurs Here Since SARS Dish on Then vs. Now

Fresh off-the-boaters may be a little taken aback to hear that COVID-19 is not the first coronavirus to plague Beijing. Back in 2003, our fair capital was one of the hardest-hit cities worldwide by the virus du jour of 2003.

Spoiler alert: Beijing survived.

Not only did SARS fail to destroy the city, it didn’t manage to scare away all its expats, either. We’ve asked five of them – all of whom are now business owners in the city – to tell us their tales of then and now.

Jennifer Sachs, American
Founder, The Learning Center & Hyde Academy

BACK THEN: Back in 2003, I was not yet an entrepreneur. I was a pregnant teacher in an international school with a toddler at home. I distinctly remember the first few days when SARS cases were announced and the way that the numbers jumped incredibly in just a couple of days. All of the teachers, Chinese, and expats alike, were passing information to each other via word of mouth. Just about everything was hearsay at the start and there was a lot of confusion about whether schools would stay open or close.

At first, our school stuck to its guns and stayed open. Gradually, more and more parents stayed at home with their children, but teachers had to go to school. We would have endless meetings about "what to do" while wearing masks. I remember chatting with a teacher who had asthma about how bad it was when she had an attack and went to the hospital only to be quickly thrust into a room full of hacking people. If you even had a tickle in your throat in the back of a taxi, you were desperate not to cough to avoid causing trouble.

Ultimately, I decided to go home in May 2003 to have my second child even though I genuinely was not afraid of catching SARS. I was more worried about our apartment building being quarantined and thus being a pregnant woman trapped in an apartment with a toddler.

NOW: This time, with two teenagers at home and business of my own, my perspective is quite different. I was more inwardly focused during SARS, and now I am responsible for all the students in my school and center as well as all the teachers, which helps ground me in a way. I don’t feel that I can just run off to leave others to deal with it; I am "the others."

With access to new online tools, I am able to create learning spaces for my students and connect remotely with my teachers, and as a small school, most of our staff and students are in the same time zone. This is definitely helping us weather the storm.

Because we are focusing on personalized learning plans and loads of parent feedback, we have actually gotten a couple of new students to sign up. We suspect that when the tides turn and we are back in school, our very personal approach may save us in the long run. Fingers crossed!

WORDS OF WISDOM: Personally, I feel caught between Pollyannas and Doomsdayers as I am an optimistic realist. I do believe that this time the economic toll will be tremendous, greater than during SARS, and some businesses will inevitably fall apart. But at the same time, I know with certainty that this, too, will pass, and as certain doors close, so too will others open. I am looking forward to the "post"-COVID-19 period.

Dominic Johnson-Hill, British
Founder, Plastered 8

BACK THEN: In 2003 I was running a language school. It wasn’t my business so I couldn’t give a shit. We had about 200 foreign students studying Chinese and suddenly I was down to two, who were both big drinkers – so we went to The Tree Lounge every night, the only bar that stayed open. It was at this moment I met my wife who was way out of my league but there were slim pickings so I got lucky. It was one of the best times of my life, but the weirdness of an empty city and everything closed stayed with me, so when this coronavirus started to hit, I knew what was coming.

NOW: Now I’m the business owner and it's hit me in the nuts like when my nephew threw a Tonka toy in my crotch when I was asleep (it can take months to recover). CNY is one of our busiest periods and we had basically zero revenue. We have three stores, we don’t do much online and my fixed costs are high. Now as I watch the cash flow that took me three years to build up disappear, I want to throw that Tonka toy at someone else’s nuts.

WORDS OF WISDOM: Keep your legs crossed and one eye open. I’ve always held onto more cashflow than I needed and that is what’s going to save us. Invest heavily always in your company culture and team as it's at moments like this that it will save your nuts. My team have all voluntarily taken huge pay cuts to save the brand and continue working hard to ready the brand for relaunch.

Andreas Laimboeck, Austrian
School Director of LTL Mandarin School

BACK THEN: When SARS hit I was a Chinese language student in Beijing. I remember the fear spreading very fast back then and all the other students leaving China within just a few days. Only me and a few friends stayed because we didn’t want to stop studying Mandarin. We went to Yunnan to hide in the jungle for a few months, which was a fantastic time and I continued studying in Kunming for a while until things had returned to normal in Beijing.

NOW: Instead of being a Chinese language student, I am now running six Chinese language schools (LTL Mandarin School) myself. This makes the whole experience a lot more stressful because now I am not only responsible for myself, but for dozens of team members, teachers and hundreds of students and paying rent, bills, and salaries for all of them while having lost all our income. This year will be tough for us. I am at our school in Taiwan where life goes on relatively normal, but I can see the emotional toll the quarantine and fear take on team members in China. Not being able to do anything about it nor knowing when it will stop is very difficult for me.

WORDS OF WISDOM: One thing I learned from SARS that served me well this time was to very actively fight against the feeling of panic. Back then we didn’t have social media, however, I remember the rumors around university about thousands of people being dead and the end of mankind being just around the corner. It was similar this time, just that social media amplified that feeling. Quickly leaving groups and in some cases blocking people who seemed to actually enjoy spreading fear and panic and just reading a few news sources I trust once a day – and not every few hours – has helped me stay sane.

Michelle Hemsin, Thai
Founder, Bodhi Spas

BACK THEN: During SARS, I was working as a Senior Account Executive at the Beijing office of the TBWA advertising agency. I remember my father being concerned over the situation and asked me to return to Bangkok, which I did that spring. That was the moment my career path changed. While seeking a job in Bangkok, I stumbled into the spa industry.

NOW: Now during the coronavirus epidemic as a business owner, I am greatly affected as my business is closed and there is financial pressure. We're not sure long can we can hold out with zero income while still having great costs like dorm fees, rent, and proportionate salaries to still pay. This time, I also have to look out for my family and shelter my children; last time, I only had to take care of myself.

What I learned from SARS is that the epidemic will balloon and it takes many months to subside so I took fast and decisive action to seek refuge for my children back home and wait out the storm.

WORDS OF WISDOM: I left Beijing in March 2003 but returned with a new job in November, and by then everything had been back to normal for a few months already. Hopefully business this spring will bounce back fast this time too. There is always hope!

Campbell Thompson, Australian
Founder, The Wine Republic

BACK THEN: In 2003, I was working as marketing director at ASC Fine Wines in Beijing. When SARS hit, staff had a combination of "leave without pay/reduced pay/time off." Whilst there was a certain amount of concern and stress, my main memory of the time is that Beijing was fairly relaxed. We rode bikes everywhere, chose to sit outside restaurants when possible, but still went out to eat and drink.  

We had masks, sanitizer, and frequent handwashing, but we didn't have the huge volume of stress-enhancing social media.

NOW: This time around, I was in Australia in January when the news broke, and travel restrictions and quarantine was imposed. I've extended my stay in Australia and am working from here, with my staff working from home in China. Whilst I'm glad to be in Australia, I'm probably more stressed than I was during SARS, due to the concerns for our staff and customers, and for the business.

WORDS OF WISDOM: On a positive note, once we rounded the curve with SARS, the economy (well, wine sales at least) did bounce back fairly quickly.  I hope we see the same thing this time!

READ: Is the Coronavirus to Blame for Backlash Against Chinese Green Card Changes?

Images courtesy of the interview subjects
Graphics: Joey Guo