2020 WuhanDiary
- (Fang, 2020) ⇒ Fang Fang. (2020). “Wuhan Diary.” Bentang Pustaka.
Subject Headings: Covid-19 Pandemic, Common-Sense, Corruption, Chinese Cultural-Revolution, Chinese Medicine, Online Diary, Self-Published, Chinese Language Publication, 2020 Hubei Lockdown.
Notes
Cited By
2022
- (Wikipedia, 2022) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuhan_Diary Retrieved:2022-11-9.
- Wuhan Diary is an online diary written by Chinese writer Fang Fang about the life of the people of Wuhan, China during the Wuhan lockdown during efforts to quarantine the center of an outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and stop it spreading. An English translation of the diary, titled Wuhan Diary: Dispatches from a Quarantined City, was published in book format by Harper Collins in June 2020.
2022
- (Wikipedia, 2022) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fang_Fang#Wuhan_Diary Retrieved:2022-11-9.
- During the 2020 Hubei lockdowns, Fang Fang used social media to share her Wuhan Diary, a daily account of life in the locked-down city of Wuhan. In addition to her own writing, Wuhan Diary utilized anonymous interviews with other people in the city. The account drew international public attention. Within China, Fang Fang has faced criticism, being labeled as a "traitor" by users on social media platforms such as Weibo due to her perceived criticism of the Chinese government. She has continued writing, however, despite the fact that some of her works have been blocked from publication.
Quotes
Book Overview
On January 25, 2020, after the central government imposed a lockdown in Wuhan, acclaimed Chinese writer Fang Fang began publishing an online diary. In the days and weeks that followed, Fang Fang’s nightly postings gave voice to the fears, frustrations, anger, and hope of millions of her fellow citizens, reflecting on the psychological impact of forced isolation, the role of the internet as both community lifeline and source of misinformation, and most tragically, the lives of neighbors and friends taken by the deadly virus.
A fascinating eyewitness account of events as they unfold, Wuhan Diary captures the challenges of daily life and the changing moods and emotions of being quarantined without reliable information. Fang Fang finds solace in small domestic comforts and is inspired by the courage of friends, health professionals and volunteers, as well as the resilience and perseverance of Wuhan’s nine million residents. But, by claiming the writer´s duty to record she also speaks out against social injustice, abuse of power, and other problems which impeded the response to the epidemic and gets herself embroiled in online controversies because of it.
As Fang Fang documents the beginning of the global health crisis in real time, we are able to identify patterns and mistakes that many of the countries dealing with the novel coronavirus have later repeated. She reminds us that, in the face of the new virus, the plight of the citizens of Wuhan is also that of citizens everywhere. As Fang Fang writes: “The virus is the common enemy of humankind; that is a lesson for all humanity. The only way we can conquer this virus and free ourselves from its grip is for all members of humankind to work together.”
Blending the intimate and the epic, the profound and the quotidian, Wuhan Diary is a remarkable record of an extraordinary time.
Book Content
We need to hold those people in charge who were negligent, irresponsible, or simply failed to act accountable for the harm they caused. These cases need to be rigorously pursued, and none of those parties responsible should be allowed to weasel their way out of this.”
...
the true test of a country’s level of civility has nothing to do with building the tallest skyscraper or driving the fastest car, nor does it matter how advanced your weapons system is or how powerful your military might be; it is also not about how advanced your technology is or even your artistic achievements, and it is especially not related to how lavish your official government meetings are or how splendid your firework displays are, or even how many rich Chinese tourists you have buying up different parts of the world. There is only one true test, and that is how you treat the weakest and most vulnerable members of your society.”
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When the world of officialdom skips over the natural process of competition, it leads to disaster; empty talk about political correctness without seeking truth from facts also leads to disaster; prohibiting people from speaking the truth and the media from reporting the truth leads to disaster; and now we are tasting the fruits of these disasters, one by one.”
...
I’m not sure if those earlier issues have really been resolved or if they’ve just been censored from the internet. After experiencing so much censorship, I have come to grow numb about the whole thing. Yesterday I said that we are our own worst enemies; this process of becoming enemies of ourselves probably begins with that feeling of numbness.”
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Common sense tells us that as long as people exist, disease will always coexist with us. And the same holds true for our social lives — as long as there are people, there will always be those diseased people (what I mean is those ethically corrupt boneheads) living among us.
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During times of stability, our lives are ordinary and routine, and the peace and quiet of the monotonous everyday gradually conceals the great kindness and the horrific evil that humans are capable of.”
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Concealment is the brother of censorship.
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This outbreak is the result of several forces coming together. The enemy is not just the virus itself. We ourselves are also our own worst enemies in this fight. Or at the very least, we are accomplices to the crime. I'm told that there are a lot of people who are now suddenly waking up to just how meaningless it is to go around every day shouting empty slogans about how awesome our country is. They know that those cadres who go around giving speeches on political education, but who never take concrete action are utterly useless. We refer to them as people who live off the labor of their mouths. And they certainly know that a society that lacks common sense and fails to pursue the facts as they present themselves, not only ends up harming people through words, but can actually result in the loss of human lives. Many, many human lives. This is a lesson that resonates deeply. And also comes with a heavy weight. Even though we have all lived through the SARS epidemic of 2003, it seems we have all quickly forgotten the lessons we supposedly learned then. Now fast forward to 2020. Will we forget again? The devil is always on our heels and if we aren't careful, he will catch up to us again and torture us until we finally wake up. The real question is, do we even want to wake up?
In many cases the problem does not lie with someone paying too much attention to the dark side of things, it is actually due to our overemphasis on bright and positive things — sometimes that brightness can be so blinding that it damages our ability to see things clearly.
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Only when you understand common sense will you be able to truly understand how to take care of practical matters.
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Just like normal times, during this outbreak, there are still a lot of foolish people doing foolish things. But, these days, it is not just the foolish committing those foolish acts.
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The problem is that your so-called humanistic spirit hasn’t allowed you to think about things from someone else’s perspective. If you did, then you would have taken all this into consideration already.... Adhering to the principles of humanism is the most basic and fundamental type of common sense.
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Child, you said you’re 16. When I was 16 it was 1971 and back then if someone had told me that the “Cultural Revolution is a calamity” I would surely have taken him on till his head was covered in blood. I wouldn’t have listened, even if he tried to reason with me for three days and nights on end. That’s because from age 11 I’d been taught “the Cultural Revolution is of course good,” and by 16 I’d been taught that way for five years. Three days and three nights would never have been enough to win me over. By the same token, I can’t possibly overcome your disbelief.
But let me tell you, child, sooner or later your disbelief will be answered. That answer will have to come from you. In 10 years, maybe 20, there’ll come a day when you’ll think, wow, how childish and despicable I was back then. Because by then you may have become an entirely different you. Of course, if you take the path that those ultra-leftists want to lead you down, perhaps you’ll never get your own answer.
References
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| Author | volume | Date Value | title | type | journal | titleUrl | doi | note | year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 WuhanDiary | Fang Fang | Wuhan Diary | 2020 |