No longer silent, Wuhan post-90s: It's my life duty to voice out for the dead
Beawater(14 Mar) Washington – Dragonslayer, a Chinese post-90s born in Wuhan, once believed that if he doesn’t say anything politically sensitive, doesn’t do anything outrageous, obeys the authorities, and be a ‘refined egoist’like many around him, his life could only get better.
A coronavirus epidemic completely changed his views. Dragonslayer said he doesn’t want to be “the silent majority” anymore.
“I know how much of a bastard this government is,” he said, “I used to tell myself not to care.”
Dragonslayer is a nickname, although he agreed to have interview with Voice of America, he worried for his personal safety nevertheless.
From aggressive teenager to “the boiling frog”
Dragonslayer, 26, is a unique one from the young Chinese generation who grew up behind “the great firewall”.
He knew how to get around the firewall since the age of 11, and has seen documentaries on the 1989 4 June massacre; read the banned Chinese history on Wikipedia; learnt about China from uncensored foreign media reports.
“Mao Zedong is a slaughterer,” he told his parents when he was 15.
“The Zhao family would be the first the get rich, we are just the fuel,” he told his best friends.
His parents warned him not to make such statements outside; “Study hard and make money. Leave this place once you get the opportunity in the future.” His friend persuaded.
In primary school, Dragonslayer would wish to leave China. In secondary school, he refused to join groups as he didn’t want to “side with their politics”.
However, Dragonslayer’s family financial situation wasn’t great, his family couldn’t afford to send him abroad. At 16, he realized that if he needs to survive in China, he would have to compromise, protect himself, and not to fight the city hall.
“OK, I’ll do as I’m told, and I won’t do these politically sensitive things,” he said. “I’ll just follow your footsteps.”
Dragonslayer’s dream is to become a journalist. He studied hard and went to the top university for journalism. But soon, he realized that this dream wouldn’t be able to come true in China.
“My school was where they taught us how to control public opinions,” he recalled. “There were times when our teachers complacently told us how they controlled public opinions.”
After graduation, Dragonslayer found a decent PR job at an internet company in Beijing. Although tax rate was high, although he couldn’t afford a flat in Beijing, as days went by, things didn’t seem so unbearable, like the frog in the pot. He persuaded himself that if he worked harder, he could become a middle class.
He remained cautious and stayed away from politics. Only every once in a while, he would discreetly express his annoyance in his WeChat moments. For example, he would write “There’s a yellow bear reverse driving”(referring to Xi as Winnie the Pooh, bringing the country backward); Or he would use quotes from Mao Zadong and Deng Xiaoping as sarcasms.
“We would deliberately use words that are opposite to what they meant,” he said. “We call these people the ‘Yin Yang Master’.”
No longer silent
The outbreak of the coronavirus broke his silence. Dragonslayer said if he didn’t know how to get around the firewall, if his friends abroad didn’t tell him the truth, he might have already been incinerated.
During the lockdown, Dragonslayer reflected a lot:
“When Beijing evicted the ‘low-end’ population, I convinced myself to work hard and I’m not part of that class, so I won’t be evicted; When they started the Xinjiang re-education camps, I told myself that I’m not a Muslim or religious, I won’t be re-educated; I’m sympathetic towards Hongkongers, but I won’t go to protests, so it won’t affect me either. This time, it happened in my hometown. Many people around me are ill, some passed away, and I can’t remain silent anymore.”
Li ZeHua, a citizen journalist, is a big influence to Dragonslayer.
Li is also a post-90s, he graduated from Communication University of China, was a news reporter on the China Central Television, and later became a freelance journalist.
On 6 February, Li entered Wuhan to report the epidemic. He visited local communities, funeral homes and train stations etc. 20 days later, the police pursued him and he is currently missing. Li is the third citizen journalist who went ‘missing’, after the disappearance of Chen Qiushi and Fang Bin.
Like Li, Dragonslayer said he won’t be silent anymore.
“These things were hidden for over a month,” he said. “To this day, no officials apologised to the people of Wuhan. Absurdly, they told us we should hate America, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and we should hate ‘The Wall Street Journal’. No one took responsibility for the epidemic. Our ‘great’ mayor, Chow Xianwang, was even publicly praised by the central government a few days ago.
At the moment, there are still so many people yet to recover, and we are already celebrating. It’s ridiculous that the book, “A Battle Against Epidemic: China Combating Covid-19 in 2020”, has ready been published.”
“That’s bizarre!” he added.
A great challenge to humanity
Beside those in power, the comments and practices of many Chinese people are also disappointing to Dragonslayer. A classmate’s mum was diagnosed with coronavirus, and because there weren’t enough beds in the hospital, they reached for help online. Immediately, the post was requested to delete by the swarm of “little pinkies”, who accused him of being controlled by foreign forces. Dragonslayer himself is often said to be “brainwashed by foreign media” as well.
“To be honest, the biggest challenge is not the coronavirus itself, it’s the challenge against humanity.” He sighed.
“You need to have a fine division between ‘CCP’, ‘China’ and ‘Chinese’,” Dragonslayer once told an oversea friend. However, these terms seem “indifferentiable” at this moment of time.
“Most Chinese, including myself, is not innocent because we condone them for evil. Of course, there are even more people doing evil with them.” He said.
“There’s now an abnormal optimistic atmosphere in China. I read from the news that the world owns China an apology, and it even said that if there wasn’t the coronavirus epidemic, we wouldn’t know that China is so great. Wuhan is still sacrificing and suffering at this moment of time, and they can be like, ‘Oh look how shit foreign countries are doing and how great we are doing.’ This is chilling!”
Ready to “flee”
Dragonslayer has quit his job in Beijing. He wishes to leave China after the pandemic. He said he’s not leaving for overseas study nor immigration, he is “fleeing”.
A friend once told him that if he wants to survive in China, he needs to achieve one of the two factors, if not both. Firstly, lose one’s rationality. Secondly, lose one’s conscience.
Dragonslayer felt that he couldn’t do any of the above.
“If I survived this incident, it’s my luck; If I couldn’t, it’s also a sense of relief. But as long as I survived, as a survivor of the Wuhan pneumonia, it’s my life duty to voice out for the dead.” Dragonslayer told Voice of America.
Source: VOA News