A noodle shop in Bath, British. Photo: VCG

 Many Chinese restaurants around the world, including in the US, Italy and Iran, are suffering amid the COVID pandemic both due to a decrease in customers due to the virus and rising discrimination. Some restaurant owners have decided to abandon their businesses, while others are finding various means to adapt to the crisis.

"Since I opened my restaurant in 1999, I have survived SARS and the September 11 attacks, but this time I see no end in sight and have no expectations," Wang Xiaodong, owner of Chinese restaurant Taiwan Pork Chop House in Manhattan, New York, told Chinese news site yicai.com. 

Wang said that although the city government has promised interest-free loans to shop owners, this is not enough to relieve the pressure they are under. "Financial assistance has little impact. The number of confirmed cases in New York is increasing every day. I won't be able to stop worrying until the government can control this increase," he noted.

According to Chen Zuozhou, CEO of Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation, the prices of everything in New York, from water to electricity and rent, have all increased, making it harder for restaurants to hold on.

Besides New York, Chinese restaurants in other cities such as Seattle in the US and Milan in Italy are also trapped in the same dilemma.

"Restaurants in the city have suspended their businesses due to government regulations," Lu Ruiying, a 26-year-old Chinese woman working in Milan, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

"The government of Washington State has shut down restaurants, bars and has capped gatherings at 50 to stop people getting together and further spreading the coronavirus," a Chinese student studying in Seattle told the Global Times, pointing out that Chinese restaurants are trying to adapt to stay alive. 

"While restaurants in the city no longer allow dining in, Chinese restaurants are still offering delivery service," he said, noting that many restaurants have basically become specialized food-delivery businesses and have been changing up their menus to keep people coming back for more. 

Fatemeh Pourani, an Iranian citizen who was born in Beijing and now lives in Tehran, told the Global Times that owners of restaurants in the city have come up with the idea of creating little meal kits by washing, cutting and packaging ingredients for people to take home and cook for themselves. 

On Sina Weibo, Chinese netizens have praised these owners, saying they represent the industrious spirit of the Chinese nation, which allows them to turn crises into opportunities.

However, while all restaurants have been hurt by the lack of customers, Chinese restaurants in particular have had to deal with another foe  — a rise in racism against Asians and Chinese in particular. 

Footage showing the smashed doors of Chinese restaurants in San Francisco was posted on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo. A post under the video noted that US President Donald Trump's use of the racist term "Chinese virus" has increased discrimination against Chinese in the US and made things more difficult for Chinese restaurants.

"As a head of state, it is very irresponsible for Trump to use a term that does not have any scientific evidence backing it," a comment below the post said.

Lu said that she experienced some of this discrimination after the COVID-19 outbreak. 

"Once I went to a supermarket while wearing a face mask and a middle-aged man shouted at me. The insults he used hurt me very deeply," she recalled.

However, netizens are confident that Chinese restaurants and Chinese cuisine will be able to prevail once the dust settles. 

"Few people can resist the temptation of delicious Chinese food and the owners of these Chinese restaurants are trying to find new paths. Everything will be fine," one Sina Weibo user wrote.