“Sealed Off” begins with a description of a tramcar in Shanghai. The tramcar drives down the street, carrying people trying to get into shops as the city shuts down. The passengers are fairly calm. On the tram is an accountant for Huamao Bank, Lu Zongzhen. He thinks about the spinach buns he’s carrying that his wife asked him to pick up after work. He reads the newsprint that the buns are wrapped in while other people on the tram read whatever they have in hand.

Across from Zongzhen is a young, unmarried woman, Wu Cuiyuan. She is an English teacher at a college, and she is grading her students’ papers. The paper she is reading is from a male student complaining about the “evils of the big city, full of righteous anger” (240). She gives the student a good grade because of his frankness and the respect he shows her. She doesn’t get much respect at home or work, and her parents wish she would get married.

Next to Cuiyuan is a nanny with a child. There is also a medical student on the tram doing anatomy sketches while the other passengers watch and comment. Zongzhen sees his wife’s cousin's son, Dong Peizhi, in the car.