‘Strangers started telling me to go home’: Why foreigners who endured China’s Covid lockdowns now say they’ve had enough

Foreigners living in China who stuck it out through three years of strict Covid controls have spoken about why they finally decided to leave the country last year despite efforts to reopen to the outside world.

Some spoke of an increasing wariness, even hostility, towards foreigners while others said they were worried about a repeat of their lockdown experiences.