"Shenzhen is our shared home. I don't feel panic and will remain here enjoying life as I did before," Manfred Jaeger, a German expert with Shenzhen International Management Service, said yesterday.
Even during the SARS outbreak, Jaeger still spent his leisure time hiking outside of the city, feeding birds or collecting sea shells along the shore at sunrise or sunset.
Since the disease emerged, Jaeger has received many calls from concerned friends overseas.
He tells them the epidemic is not as severe as it appears in foreign media reports.
Shenzhen has managed to control SARS, with only 47 probable infections found among more than seven million residents.
Most foreign experts in China have, like Jaeger, chosen to stay in the country, working and living as normal.
According to the State Bureau of Foreign Experts Affairs, more than 440,000 experts from foreign countries and from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan work on the Chinese mainland every year.
About 185,000 stay for more than a year. To date, no foreign experts have been infected by SARS.
Shenzhen, as the first of China's special economic zones, now has more than 1,000 foreign experts in its six districts. The local health administration established a 24-hour hotline, published SARS information in foreign languages, and set up special wards to ensure timely medical treatment.
Patrick Simon, director of the Meilin branch of Carrefour in Futian District, said the local government was open about the epidemic, even giving out their personal telephone numbers to foreigners.
Even more gratifying was the absence of SARS cases at his branch and the steady sales turnover due to the adoption of precautions suggested by the government.
(China Daily June 16, 2003)
