Wuhan people move on from virus
Controversial diary on lockdown receives mixed reaction
As Chinese writer Fang Fang, who chronicled lockdown life in Wuhan, the city which bore the brunt of the coronavirus, stirred a backlash over her controversial “Wuhan diary,” people in Wuhan expressed mixed reactions. Some applauded her frankness, while others decried her for publishing heresy and demonizing Wuhan’s battle against the virus.
However, after life slowly returned to normal following the lifting of the lockdown, Wuhan people feel they need to leave the scars behind and any recording that brings back their painful memory.
Chen Xiao (pseudonym), a Wuhan volunteer who helped patients get hospitalized and delivered food for quarantined Wuhan residents while the city was under lockdown, has always cherished his bond with fellow volunteers.
Discussions on Fang Fang drove a wedge through their “family-like” bond.
“Our group chat has been very intense since it was bombarded by news that Fang Fang was planning to publish her Wuhan diary in the US and Germany,” Chen said.
Chen, who has been active in the frontline of Wuhan’s battle against the virus, told the Global Times that at the early stage of the outbreak, he appreciated Fang Fang for her frankness, which expressed the anger the volunteers were harboring but dared not speak.
“But my views were gradually changed because she was overwhelmed by her preconceived notions, and let her emotions override her,” Chen told the Global Times.
Fang Fang has never set foot on the frontline of the outbreak, and has no right to “reveal the truth to the public,” Chen said. “If she only sat at home and wrote down the heresy, maybe she should not call her book ‘diary;’ ‘fiction’ is appropriate.”
Ever since she published her “diary” of Wuhan residents’ lockdown life on Sina Weibo, Fang Fang, whose real name is Wang Fang, who is also a member of the Hubei Writers Association, has stirred heated debate online.
The backlash against her climaxed after news that her “Wuhan diary” was about to be published in the US and Germany, with many netizens saying she is being used by the West to sabotage Chinese people’s efforts against the COVID-19 outbreak.
When asked whether she believes her writing would be used by the West to support their “blame China” theory and evidence for them to ask China to compensate for the coronavirus, Fang Fang said on Saturday that she believes lawyers would choose real and first-hand evidence such as official statements and media reports based on reporters’ field investigations instead of a diary “written with the author’s personal feelings.”
“We don’t talk about her now. Wuhan people just went through something unimaginable. As the virus recedes, we are welcoming our new lives, getting ready to work, to study, make our lives better, and let go of anything linked to the virus. This includes Fang Fang and her diary,” said Xiao Ning, a Wuhan resident.