Shanghai Is Finished: No Foreigners at Shanghai Trade Fair or Foreigner Street, Rent Plummets 60% 

I was one of those foreigners who fled last year. I will never return as a result of my experiences in the Shanghai lockdown. I had never experienced such inhumanity before. I saw what REAL China is like, in the way that Chinese experience it and I was horrified. I have told everyone in the west about my experiences and so have all of us who have fled. The only foreigners going back there are the desperate ones, with no other options. I feel horrible that Chinese people don't have the privilege of having a western passport as I do. I will never take my freedom for granted EVER again.

The CCP has treated foreigners with contempt for a long time, so why would any foreigner want to stay?

The CCP got so arrogant as to think that they do not need to rely on foreigners. At the same time, they haven't increased the prosperity of the their people as much as they should have.

6 years i lived in Shanghai… After how we were treated during Covid .. Not allowed to leave our house and my Sons apartment for over a Year struggling to get Food Water and Medicine. You Imprisoned us literally House arrest Treated like criminals if we complained . As soon as we were allowed to leave we booked flights back to the UK 🇬🇧.. Will never return , Closed all our Offices layed off all staff who also wanted to leave , We are now based in Cardiff, And doing great, Blame your government for the way they treated people over Covid. You will never recover your City is DEAD . No one will live there under a Dictatorship ever again, And its such a shame . 😢.

A loss of Freedom equals a loss of business simple

The wolf warrior policies have consequences, making enemies of your people , your neighbors and the rest of the world.

I started in the toy and flooring industries (plastics) in Taiwan back in 1992 and started making trips into China in 1994. I never liked it. A lot of business corruption, and there was NO legal system that let me protect my designs. I couldn't stay and do business in mainland China, and have been working in Taiwan for over 30 years now. It's a lovely place, and I always marvel that 80 miles of water can make basically the same people, with similar roots, so different. My last mainland trip was in 2013 for a trade show. I doubt I will ever go back; I've said too much already. There is no business future there for outsiders with a rigid communist party under Xi. So many of my Taiwan and American business partners and friends that didn't listen to me about long term business prospects for China, and are now hurting, ask me how I knew. Easy, the communist party people are fundamentally criminals that steal anything good... and then cheapen it. It's impossible to do business without trust. Relationships mean nothing when you see your exact product being sold elsewhere... oh, and RUN from anyone that starts calling you "brother".

I taught English in China from 2010 to 2022. The years of Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao were the best 2010-2014 after Xi took over , the country turned from a comfy, prosperous, foreigner loving atmosphere into a paranoid, xenophobic and antagonizing dystopia.

Confucius, he say “Xi barking like mad dog scare away foreigners” 😂

Foreigners are decoupling or should we say de-risking

For foreigners the fear of the risks of >>”wrongful detention (false arrest)”

I said it in the beginning when people used to say it’s safe in China I used to say it’s safe till the dictator decides to take everything from you that’s how safe it’s in China

youd have to be insane to set foot inside that orwellian nightmare. no amount of money could ever make me want to go there.

I turned down a lucrative job offer in HK recently because I did not want to deal with the hard authoritarian laws and lack of due process. It would be difficult to convince me to go to Shanghai. All that wolf-warrior nationalism is super dangerous.

My sister and husband are getting out of china this summer (involved in the diplomatic corps) She told me last year that foreigners are getting out asap.

I met a few Shangainese in my country. They used to be so proud about their country, and they will talk the loudest and talk big when it comes to discussing their own country status. Now, they decided to stay here and kept super quiet about their own country, in fact ashamed of their country and sometimes really really mad at Winnie.

Listen, foreigners have been slowly leaving since around 2017. After Xi Jinping seized power in 2012, things have been changing greatly. The government made life for foreigners incredibly difficult, from obtaining a visa & dealing with banks to the complex surveillance system and all around anti foreign sentiment 🇨🇳

A few years ago, I had a hankering to visit Shanghai. Now? No way. There is no rule of law there and China's thuggish foreign policy disgusts me.

I used to follow a you-tuber foreigner teacher that had sold all his belongings to move to China as he was offered a teaching position in a prestigious school. Then a year later COVID hit! He would make videos of how strict the government was in their complex, and he was really scared because his wife was starting to develop panic attacks. She would then leave their apartment during restrictions to have a bit of air to relieve the stress. He lost his job and as soon as he could he left China behind with just a few belongings, so basically he lost everything. I imagine that life was the same way for all foreigners.

As of June 30th, US State Department rates China with a Level 3 Travel Advisory (Reconsider Travel), one level below 'Do Not Travel'. "Reconsider travel to Mainland China due to the arbitrary enforcement of local laws, including in relation to exit bans, and the risk of wrongful detentions."

This is a lesson to learn for Shanghai , stop making things unbearable financially as people will just leave your city which is happening. So enjoy the empty streets and no jobs now. I knew this will happen , it was only a matter of time.

the oppressive attitude of the CCP toward foreigners and their culture means when there is less and less money flowing there is no incentive to stick it out or stick around

We were harassed leaving China by security and customs so that we almost missed our plane despite being at the airport 7 hours ahead!

Why return to a place that can weld your front door and prevent you from going outside ?

I was a China major and lived in Taiwan for a while. Years ago, it was my dream to take my family to China for a year or two, but now I wouldn't dare go over there for any reason, and I feel sorry for the Chinese people who are laboring under the yoke of oppression. The current CCP government is worse than ever. I hope the people are able to eventually rise up and do what's required to finally free themselves of these parasites and make China the great, free and prosperous republic envisioned by Sun Yat-sen.

“Do not let a leader lead you on a bad path.” - Confucius.

Norway here, any investor knows that when a authoritarian regime start cooperating with FN-sanctioned and isolated warcriminal nations, its a question of time before the worldsociety punish everyone with assets or profits from such cooperation with China. Everyone who doesnt want to loose their investments, dont invest in countries flirting with warcriminals behind closed doors.

Freedom is priceless. Why suffer if you can be happier and free somewhere else.

In the past, I enjoyed going to China. It was so dynamic and full of life, it was always changing. I can't say I was treated badly by many people. I would have been very happy to live in Hong Kong. I noticed a subtle change after Xi became president. Under Jiang and Hu, it was a bit "messy", but, in its own way, open and fairly free -- so long as certain third rails such as politics and religion weren't touched. After Xi, the mindset changed. It became increasingly restricted, closed-off. It wasn't really "bad", but it felt as if the parameters of what was allowed shrunk bit-by-bit each year, much like Stalin's salami slice approach. Long-term foreign residents told me in 2019 that many of their old colleagues had left. They took opportunities elsewhere. A good many of those who left had invested a lot into their lives in China, but they could read the writing on the wall. Since 2020, it's grown ever harder to be there. There is a growing sense of not being welcome, of China gradually rolling back its great opening. It might not go back to 1967, but it's certainly starting to look more and more like 1983.

I think it is very sad what the CCP has done to China and its people.

As a “foreigner”, I’m just not very into being detained randomly. Not something I am not normally expect when I am traveling😅

Shanghai is still like what it used to be a hundred years ago. Its prosperity depends solely on the rich foreigners who invested and consumed in Shanghai. Without them,, Shanghai is merely nothing more than a small fishing town.

Fun fact: people generally hate authoritarian measures. Play Mao, people leave.

I feel for these ordinary citizens though. They can’t vote, they can’t raise their voices and they can’t live if the money stops due to policies.

I first visited Shanghai in 2007 and subsequently lived in China for 10 years from 2010 until 2020I loved the bustling energy and had some of the happiest years of my life there. As others have said though things changed for the worse under Xi. Things tightened, a sense of growing nationalism and more obstacles. The Visa process went from tick a couple of boxes to a major headache wanting details of your itinerary and places of stay in China. Post-COVID locals would dive for cover for fear of being infected by a foreigner. In Guangzhou where I lived latterly during COVID they evicted swathes of African nationals from their apartment complexes leaving them to traipse hopelessly searching for new accommodation. I eventually called it a day and left fearful that things could take a turn for the worse. Thankfully I didn’t experience the full horrors of a city lockdown like Shanghai but the joy was gone. I think now some of that growing nationalistic pride I observed must be tempered somewhat by the downturn in their economy. You really don’t know what you have til it’s gone. I think Xi may well go down in history as one of the worlds worst leaders in taking a country that was riding high and increasingly feted by all to completely reversing that damaging themselves in the process. Well done!

Both Russia and China face less foreignors now an that is effecting the economies of both countries. Years ago, I happen to be in West Berlin observing the wall of separation with East Berlin an the difference in economic activity was hugely different so to economic and geopolitical politics. East Berlin was ghost town deprived of population and a vibrant economy. I said to myself there is no hope left when business can’t thrive. The City of Shanghai, China must figure out a way to reverse course if foreigners are not going to return.

Treat people like pooh, they leave for friendlier countries!😊😅😂🎉

Starting in 2001 in my role as a global sales and procurement manager I have been to China five times for work, including to Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai and Hong Kong. I have always had successful and enjoyable trips to China, including my last visit to Hong Kong in 2018. But after China kidnapped Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig - two regular business people, just like me, my wife made me promise to never again step a foot onto Chinese territory. So, I have never returned, and instead I’ve been redirecting our procurement efforts to Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand - our category of goods can be bought at similar quality and cost as from China, without the political and economic risks. It takes some effort to get to these places from Canada when you tell your travel agent not to connect through Hong Kong or elsewhere in China, nor to use any China owned or affiliated airlines, including Cathay. But it can be done, from Vancouver, Canada I fly Air Canada (or Eva) to Taiwan, and from there to Singapore. I still sell to China, but I meet the customers outside of China, for example recently at a trade show in the US. China’s people are lovely, and wonderful to do business with, but if the communist regime sees fit to kidnap Canadians, I can’t be arrogant and say, it wouldn’t happen to me.

Every day I give thanks to the universe that I was not born in China.

I would imagine many foreingners left as soon as they could after the Shangai lockdowns. Its sad for the average person there, but they need to get rid of Whinney to improve their lives. I guess China is realising that they actually need the rest of the world more than the rest of the world needs them.

It's what Winnie the Pooh wanted.

Being a Hokian speaker and a former employee of China’s largest automobile company, I frequented Xiantiandi in Shanghai but in 2013 I started noticing the business style of the communist party members and it was alarming and I decided to resign from my job. And when Covid set in, Xi was caught flat footed and he was noticed by foreigners that it is unsafe to do business in China because of his greed.

Think about the 2 Michaels from Canada who were charged under the broad law. They were held hostage because of a disagreement with the Canadian govt. or how about the threats to some Australian journalists under the new laws for reporting the truth. China didn’t like the reports.

China closed down for 3 years.. so companies saw their company in trouble and went to india and vietnam.

Shooting your own Foot. Right foot and Left foot, even right hand and left hand. Covering up with lies with more lies until all collapse and still Winnie thinks he is the greatest ruler in the universe.

It’s China’s own fault. Even with the millions of people in other countries like me in New Zealand nearly always had an order on the way from clothes, shoes to fishing gear. The manufacturers started lying to us saying it was coming air Mail but it came by sea. We became suspicious & stopped trusting the sellers. It’s all about trust

I did a summer at East China Normal Univ. in Shanghai. This was in 1989 at the peak of the democracy movement. Before the developments, but China was very welcoming to foreigners at the time. There was much hope for democratic reforms until the crackdown, which happened a week after I left. So sad to see the CCP's turn to nationalism. Blaming all of China's problems on the West. It's the wrong way to go for China and for the world.

I was there 10 years.Lived and worked there in Dalian,Shenzhen,Guangzhou,Zhanjiang,Dongguan etc...... I will say this to the Chinese: Learn how to RESPECT the foreigners who are trying their best to do good in your country...I had Chinese people spitting in my direction and would move away when near them.Even though I was in a suit and pristine clean and in good shape. Many many Chinese are in my country (The UK) and I always was courteous and polite towards them and shown them nothing but RESPECT. LEARN that respect and maybe you might get the foreigners back....

Is Shanghai still in China? I have an idea why no one in their right mind would go to China.

Most foreign Mfg. Companies left China & moved their businesses to Southeast Asia specifically Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines & Thailand.

We are seeing in real time another hermit state develope. Tech companies are already beginning to pull out and moveing to india.

I worked for two years in Pudong, Shanghai, and I can't believe how dead it seems to look now. I well remember Foreigner Street, which always used to bustle.

Glad to see foreigners are getting out while they still can. Next China may shut the doors. Who knows. The new espionage would had me out of there on the next plane.

As Xi has reverted to Maoist-style rule, even more autocratic than Mao, more like the North Korean Kim dynasty, the Chinese economy is also going back to that terrible time. Astute China observers have grave fears for the Chinese people, as the breakdown of economic activity is so drastic that they constitute the early signs of catastrophic shortages resulting in real hunger for the poor there, and even the middle class. There are likely to be floods of refugees.

That's a shame as there was a time when Shanghai was an amazing and vibrant place.

I feel for the ordinary people of, China. Who were not involved in politics, but just worked to be happy.

The coming of foreigners in Shanghai make them rich. However, when foreigners left Shanghai, their economy started devastating.

It's not Shanghai anymore. It's Shang-Low.😅

I made a couple of trips to China and spending time in Shanghai before the pandemic. To see sections near empty is rather scary. It shows how the CCP policies can affect business.

I was there last week, wife is Shanghainese but we live in Norway, she hadn't seen her parents since 2019 so we had to go, and yep, 4 months after this video all the foreigners are still gone, Shanghai feels very eerie and empty compared to what I remember it being, we went back to our old apartment in Gubei, place used to be laowai central with almost 50k laowai or about 1/3rd of all the foreigners in Shanghai living in that one area in 2019, they're all gone now, and most of the apartments seem to be empty. China has been opened since March, stopped requiring any test or quarantine since May, the foreigners are not coming back, they may travel to China for tourism but they won't return to live and work in China, people have been traumatized by the brutal zero COVID policy. Fun fact, Shanghai used to be considered an attractive place for expatriates, now it is once again considered a hard destination and Western companies will have to pay significant "discomfort" bonuses if they want their staff to move there.

It is true, I live in south China, and I see the same thing. Even in the smaller cities, there are no more foreigners and nightlife in this country has become significantly quieter than it used to be. I think the main reason is that the migrant labor pool has dried up. People are staying put in their home towns and not flocking to the cities anymore.

I used to travel to Shanghai regularly between 2011 to 2018 and spent many weeks enjoying the experience of being in Shanghai. The time I spent in china was such a positive and prosperous time. Such a shame that the government has become so unfriendly and anti capitalist...

Shanghai does not need foreigners to survive. Don’t overestimate the importance of foreigners.

I really enjoy China, its people and its culture. It is heartbreaking to see what the Communist Cult is doing to China. It is my hope that one day the Chinese can throw of the shackles of their opressors and gain ownership over their own country.

There are so many other friendlier countries to visit .. I am Canadian & I dont feel like going to a sort of controlling country with no set laws/ treaties or at least no understanding of freedom/respect of treaties/ laws & friendliness. It didn't bother me before but China has become a ? . I do like Canadian/Chinese people in here but I wouldn't go to China . I would go to Thailand Philippines ,Australia Egypt Greece & many more . China isn't seen as being exactly friendly anymore period.

Nice .. nobody wants to spend money in 🇨🇳

We first noticed this around 2017 when we saw far less Anglos in that area. Less Americans, less Europeans but at the time more Chileans and Bangladesh or Indians. (or the same but more in comparison to Anglos) and there aren't nearly as many foreigners of any kinds. Yes, a small wave of post-covid opening has returned (or first time) because just now its proving safely open and flights are back to around 50% and not insanely expensive BUT it seems a larger wave is now leaving for the same reasons that flights are finally semi-reasonable and their home countries are now fully back to normal so they can go.

I visited Shanghai and Xi´an in 2016 including using the fast trains. I was impressed, Shanghai was a really interesting city and I liked it a lot. OK, in Xi´an the ar polution was massive, but I stayed only a short time there. Same, the people were nice and it was easy to get in contact with them. When I see the pictures in the video it is unbelievable. On the other side, all the information of the Chinese government is negative and with this it is no wonder, no foreigner wants to go to China. There are plenty of other, friendlier places in the world. I hope, it will change not far from now. But when looking to Russia, I´m not overoptimistic.

Feel sad for the common chinese who have nothing against the world. The entire blame is for Joker Winnie

I once purchased an air-ticket that routed via ShangHai airport. My 60 minute experience included getting barked at by an angry passport-check woman when I couldn't understand what she was saying and witnessing a family get mashed because the young boy had gone to the loo and missed the gate cutoff time by one minute. The officer was a tyrant and just used the opportunity to assert his power. And the departure lounge smelled of shit. Compare with Soeul airport that offered a meditation/sleeping space for layovers. Never again.

3:16 The one thing I've noticed about this video clip is that she does not state her "feelings" about the situation at all; she only states her observations.

I've never been to Shanghai but I always understood it to be a commerce center. And I can't help but wonder if the same drop in use of commercial real estate in many major cities down town corridors isn't also being felt in places like Shanghai. Why rent a place for $25k a month when you could simply travel there, stay at a luxury hotel, and then head back home when the meeting is over for a 1/3 of the price? Banking and finance isn't what it once was. The pandemic turned us into a truly global economy where business dealings aren't done in person as much as they once were.

Sure looks like a clear message to the CCP that “you reap what you sow”.

I remember Shanghai from the early 1990s, before all of the old hutongs were demolished and replaced by modern apartment blocks, and when the Soviet Friendship building and the other monolithic, colonial-era edifices along the Bund still dominated the skyline. It was around the time when the new Shanghai had just begun to emerge from the banks of fog on the other side of the Huangpu river. I visited the city for work on numerous occasions between 1991 and 1995 and ended up falling for a beautiful Chinese actress from the city. As a result it often felt as though I was on cloud nine when I was there, and as I was 6'2" (1.88m) tall, with blonde hair and blue eyes, and my Chinese girlfriend was also 6' tall and quite stunning, we usually turned heads everywhere we went - this was before many foreigners lived in or visited China, and when foreigners were still required to use FECs (Foreign Exchange Certificates) instead of ¥RMB, and in the era before all of the big hotel chains moved in, when the JC Mandarin was still the best hotel in town. During one of our daily walkabouts Yo-Yo and I met a wonderful old man named Wang, who took us to the Ming dynasty Yuan Garden Teahouse, where we drank tea together and he told us how he'd been victimised by Madam Mao during the Cultural Revolution, simply because he'd been an English teacher. I remember feeling as though I'd experienced a previous life there, and that Shanghai was a city of ghosts. I have so many great memories of the city during that period. Anyway, I ended up moving back to the UK in 1996 and didn't go back to China for almost 20 years, during which time the modernisation of China and the rapid rise of its economy took place, so it was incredibly interesting to see for myself when I returned there for a series of visits between 2016-2018, working as an art curator in Shenzhen, Xi 'An, and Hangzhou. The transformation of cities like Shanghai and Shenzhen were truly remarkable, though it was already becoming clear that the old optimism had gone, and that both the economic and political situations there were deteriorating rapidly. Unfortunately for the CCP, Xi Jinping didn't heed the words of the Sly Old Fox, who said "Hide your strength, bide your time." Instead, as China became more powerful and strong, it resorted to bullying and threatening its neighbours. I hope that eventually more pragmatic heads will prevail in Beijing, and that confrontation with the West will be avoided, and that the Chinese people will start to see a loosening of the CCP's grip on power and more democracy. And with that will hopefully come a more enlightened view of the world and its resources.

I remember watching a movie that featured this street that was basically an amazing advertisement for visiting china. Shenzhen and Hong Kong had always been interesting as I love tech but I wouldn't visit Hong Kong or china ever unless a drastic regime and cultural shift happens. It's sad as my mother visited china for work a few times and met lovely people but the ruling class and society as a whole aren't very representative of individual people sadly as much as they should be. Taiwan I would still like to visit as I find their quiet but determine struggle against Chinese pressure admirable.

iirc, the so called "anti-espionage law" made things worse that foreigners fled

Why would I visit a country that bans basic websites and forms of communication I use every day? A friend of mine who is currently abroad studying was phoned by security services in China and asked where she is they no longer see her presence in China.

I just got back from Shenzhen, China. The flight was 3 times the cost of what it used to be. There are 1/10th the number of flights between various western countries and China, so one doesn't see anywhere near the number of foreigners one used to see. The number of flights is starting to increase however. There were no visible signs of a diminishing economy. The biggest changes I noticed compared to the period just prior to Covid, was an incredible increase in the number of Meituan scooters, way more electric vehicles and far fewer rental bicycles strewn over the sidewalks. Entry and exit were easy with no need to show a Covid test result, just an online form had to be filled out to enter and exit.

I lived in Shanghai from 2019 to the summer of 2020... after the quarantine. I really loved my life there and am saddened by this change. Perhaps things will change for the better in the near future.

Back in Mao's days with enduring hardships and "eat bitterness" a heroic and patriotic lifestyle Take China 30 years to rise fast but only last 3 years to plummet. Just sad.

The wolf warrior has bad breath and it sent the foreigners away.

Not to mention the death penalty. I don't think I'd dare go to China nowadays.

The same applies to the UK the tourist have fled, middle eastern travellers are down dramatically. The problem is the worldwide economic decline worldwide.

The calapse has begun, pride before the fall.

Evil destroying itself

Oh, no! Those poor landlords can't overcharge by 15,000 RMB!!! What will they do???

A friend witnessed over a hundred people die in a building fire. They were locked into the building and could not escape when it caught on fire. NICE!

It is crazy that China, Russia, Brazil and USA are all dying from different self inflicted wounds. There must be an evil force afoot.

I used to go to this street at least once a week when i was an expat there...... always rememberd the Thai restaurant there having servers with shirts on which read on the back in english "Getting better everyday". I always giggled at that cause that would never happen in Europe. There always was a otherworldly atmosphere there (Western in a sea of China), sad to see it go down like this even when most people knew (even back then) that the music would stop eventually for the chinese economy (cause 10% growth year on year is not sustainable in the long run).

It's a shame how this has happened. In 1987 I was teaching in the city at Shanghai University of Technology as an exchage professor of mechanical engineering, What is needed is to bring back cultural exchange programs.

😯It's sad to see a once bustling city stripped of its lively hood due to china's government tyranny. Seeing this really heartbreaking.😔

The best defense against communist authoritarian dictatorship is to strengthen democracies from corrupting influences and nepotism. It takes an active and concerted effort of the people, to ensure that our democratically elected politicians are truly representing our interests. We must also address what hostile communist countries are doing, both domestically and abroad. Democratic Nations must stand together against their lawlessness in defense of global security, human rights, and enforce International Law.

as an american who was paying attention when china was given all the jobs we used to do, they smirked and kept cutting prices to take more jobs until the country was wrecked and nobody cared because there was enough money left to keep the illusion going until the last few decades, now china gets to endure losing the core of its economy for good, itll never return and ill just enjoy the show because i can only laugh at these cries of desperation and fear, just like they did when it happened here and they profited off our loss

Smart investors come in when there are a lot of vacancies in housing market. Good location is the key factor for business, such as restaurant, bar etc.

Hey I walked down that street a little over 10 years ago! It’s crazy to see it so empty.

Who’d have thought if you tell all the foreigners to leave, they’d bring their money with them.

Had a stopover in Shanghai today. Nanjing Rd was "people mountain people sea" as the idiom goes. Didn't see a single closed shop, and all the restaurants were full or nearly full. Seems as vibrant as ever.

Hard to go to China when foreigners have a hard time finding hotels that will take them or being able to pay for anything since they only accept phone payments and you need a Chinese phone and bank account for that to happen.

I feel this is just the beginning..the worst is yet to come !!

Well u can thank your leader.