Cigarettes for lettuce, dish soap for some apples, and even Nintendo for a pack of noodles.
In the Chinese metropolis of Xi'an, in quarantine for 10 days for a Covid outbreak, the food shortage continues and its 13 million inhabitants have decided to resort to bartering.
The BBC reports it.
Videos posted on Wiebo, the most popular microblogging site in China, show the trade in goods that has taken place in the past few days. City authorities have provided free food to families, but some people have reported that their supplies are running out or that they have not yet received aid. Videos and photos on the social media site Weibo showed people offering cigarettes with some veggies, sanitary napkins in exchange for fruit, and even a Nintendo Switch console for a pack of noodles and two sandwiches, a tablet instead of some. rice.
"People run out of food here and have started bartering with their neighbors," a resident of the metropolis told Radio Free Asia.
"Citizens have returned to the era of bartering: potatoes are exchanged for cotton swabs," wrote one Weibo user, while another described the situation as a "return to primitive society".