"We would hereby like to express our heartfelt thanks and sincere apologies to people from all walks of life who care and support the Shanghai International Film Festival. If conditions permit, we will plan and hold relevant film festivals and themed events in the second half of this year to share the pleasant experience brought by film art and film activities."
The Chinese economy was quick to bounce back from the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and in both 2020 and 2012 China overtook North America to become the world's largest box office market.
But, with the arrival of the delta variant of COVID-19, Shanghai, China's biggest city and its economic capital, was put into a tough and dramatic lockdown that began in April. The city was officially only allowed to reopen on June 1, 2022, causing millions of people to spill into the streets and onto public transport. But, significantly, cinemas were not part of the first wave of reopening. And the city's health authorities have reported a rebound in case numbers since last week's reopening.Reopening has continued in other major cities including parts of Beijing and Shenzhen. Beijing cinemas are to be allowed to reopen at 75 percent capacity to fully-vaccinated patrons from Monday (June 6, 2022).
--IANS dc/kr
(Disclaimer: This post has been auto published from IANS news agency without any modification to the text and has not been reviewed by editor)
