Dining out in China has drastically changed since lockdown restrictions have lifted, and it offers a glimpse into what lies ahead for US restaurants

Tables and chairs are taped for the social distancing law enforcement to help curb the spread of the coronavirus at a Starbucks coffee shop in Hong Kong.AP Photo/Kin Cheung

• Restaurant owners in the US are wondering what life will look like when the country fully emerges from lockdown.
• Many are looking toward China for direction as it slowly resumes normal life and dining out becomes an option again.
• Restaurants across China and Hong Kong have made drastic changes to the dining experience, and in many places, temperature checks, masks, and plastic partitions between diners are now the norm.
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As normal life slowly resumes in China, the rest of the world is looking toward the east for pointers on what day-to-day life will look like elsewhere after the lockdown restrictions are lifted.

This includes how consumers will dine out in the future and what restaurants need to do to make the experience safe for both customers and workers.

Photographs taken in cities across China and Hong Kong reveal how drastically different it is to eat out now that businesses are reopening. Temperature checks, caps on restaurant capacity, and social distancing markers have become the norm in many places, for example.

Here's what might lie ahead for the US: