Every hundred miles Paul Salopek pauses to record the landscape and a person he meets, assembling a global snapshot of humankind. TEST 2
Every hundred miles Paul Salopek pauses to record the landscape and a person he meets, assembling a global snapshot of humankind. TEST 2
Every hundred miles Paul Salopek pauses to record the landscape and a person he meets, assembling a global snapshot of humankind. TEST 2
A scene from the last zero-COVID autumn in northwestern China. It was raining, and we’d been trying to outwalk snap lockdowns that sprawled across rural counties the size of small European countries. A dance of fools around invisible health boundaries that would pop up with little warning. One town had run out of natural gas because tanker-truck drivers were being quarantined. We reached Hanzhong exhausted, but couldn’t stay. The city of 3.8 million was slipping into mass lockdown because they’d found one positive case at a school. It turned out to be a false alarm. But we plodded on anyway.
A wraparound soundscape at this Milestone
This Milestone’s location on a map
Photos of the ground under Paul’s feet and the sky above at this Milestone
A brief question and answer with the first person Paul meets at this Milestone
Ms. Wang
Waitress, age 64
Who are you?
I’m from here.
Where do you come from?
I’ve always been a resident of this town. I worked here for 20 years at a tobacco processing factory. But it was always part-time, so I haven’t got a pension. I have to keep working.
Where are you going?
I was going to my work as a waitress at a BBQ restaurant. To get the job I told them I’m younger than I am—that I’m 54. But it closed today because of Covid. So I’m just taking a walk in the rain.
A video showing the landscape around this Milestone
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