At a minimum, according to my Chinese source, Beijing was also affected (though Shanghai was not). They had to wear masks, sanitize, distance, close schools, economy tanked, etc. It lasted for about a year and we never heard much about it, much as today we're being told that China only had 4,636 COVID deaths. That is, what you saw in other countries hardly even qualifies as an epidemic, unlike what my friend saw in China itself.

Wisely, the Chinese government appointed the same guy as last time to deal with the pandemic, but the dude is now 85 years old, so my friend is not sure what they're going to do next time.

Ironically, we also appointed "the same guy", but our guy is so inept he let swine flu run completely unchecked and kill tens of thousands of people (a performance he tried but failed to repeat when he, in the beginning of the pandemic told the US public "there's no need to wear masks"). He's also famous for telling people that AIDS can spread through "household contact" [1], and for suggesting that people take a fast tracked drug (AZT) as an AIDS prophylactic which was later found to have severe side effects [2]. Does this remind anyone of anything? How he managed to last 30+ years in the government given this "track record" is a mystery to me.

And if you believe stats coming out of China, you might also be interested in some Louisiana swamp land I have available for sale.

[1] https://news.yahoo.com/video-resurfaces-fauci-warning-househ...

[2] https://aep.lib.rochester.edu/node/49111