China Is Imposing Strict Lockdowns To Contain New COVID Outbreaks. But There's A Cost

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When Tom, an American businessman, got a dream job building up a multinational company in China, he happily moved his young family there.

Then the pandemic hit.

Tom and his family traveled back to the United States, but in March last year, China sealed off its borders. Later, it even stopped issuing new passports to its own citizens to curb travel. He made it back to China by receiving a special letter approved by the mayor of the Chinese city he works in, but his family were not able to get permission to enter. He applied again and waited for them in China.

"You think, let's just try for one more month, but eventually that breaks [down]," says Tom. "I'm depressed. The family's depressed. We just want to see each other."

He finally had to relocate, at least temporarily. As of last month, he and his family has moved to Thailand where, for the first time in more than a year and a half, they can live together.

Tom and his family are among hundreds of thousands of people stuck outside China, sometimes separated from loved ones or their livelihoods. Most of the people in this story, like Tom, asked us to use only their first name because they do not want to jeopardize their chances of getting back into China.