Xifan Yang lives on the 18th floor of a high-rise building in Beijing. She moved here five years ago as a correspondent for the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit. „Since then, every year has been an exceptional situation.“ In 2019, the protests in Hong Kong, then the pandemic. Which also had far-reaching consequences for Yang. „The social climate has changed around me,“ she says. „People have become more reserved and distrustful – especially of journalists.“