Wuhan Pneumonia is a man-made disaster: Confessions from a Wuhaner living in Hong Kong
BeWater(28 Feb) Joyce was born in Wuhan. At 19, she came to Hong Kong to further her studies. She met her now-husband and decided to establish herself here, working in the arts. A decade went by quickly, with a few visits back home every year. Unlike most mainlanders, she grew up watching Hong Kong dramas to become proficient in Cantonese. She spoke with ease during her interview and said with a smile, "I like speaking vernacularly."
As casual conversation yielded for the subject at hand, the Wuhan pneumonia, the mood instantly became heavy. Although it was hard to see Joyce's facial expression behind her mask, the anguish in her voice was unmistakable. Her parents used to work in the medical field. Her father was a chief physician and her mother was a charge nurse. Both are in their sixties. When the outbreak occurred, they came out of retirement to work on the frontlines, caring for patients. Recently, the hospital sympathised with the fact that both were medical workers. It allowed her mother to go home on the condition that she would return once her father became infected.
Wuhan's lockdown means outsiders cannot enter and insiders cannot leave. Joyce, who is in Hong Kong, relies on the phone to stay in touch with her parents but they rarely speak of their experiences. Separated by thousands of miles, she could only worry in silence. She depends on her local friends and different news sources to stay up to date.
"The city is a desolate wasteland." As of 21 Feb, more than 60,000 people in Hubei were diagnosed with Wuhan pneumonia. More than 2,000 people have died (worldwide), of which 70% were from Wuhan. The lives lost included medical personnel like ophthalmologist Li Wenliang and gastroenterologist Xia Sisi. She denounced the claim that Li's death was due to insufficient medical care. Rather, it was a problem with the system. "Under the weight of bureaucracy, rescue operations could not take place! Even Li's death could not be freely publicised."
She believes the most obvious problem lies with the mechanism for epidemic alerts. "According to reports, the government already knew about human-to-human transmission in December." She emphasised the word "already", pointing to the Central Government's delay in approving local alerts which allowed the public to remain in a dreamlike state, travelling and socialising.Ultimately, it was a grave mistake.
She made two observations: (1) Maintenance of social stability above all else. During the outbreak of African swine fever last year, the Central Government focused on suppressing public opinion, "deal not with the problem, but the people who speak about the problem." (2) Everyone just minds his own business. When the Wuhan pneumonia first broke out, self-imposed lockdowns occurred everywhere, preventing anyone from entering. Local officials answer only to the Central Government, not the people's hardships. She lamented the plight of Chinese miliary doctor Jiang Yanyong, a "Hero of SARS" who dared to expose the truth to the media and is no longer heard from again.
"The shortage of supplies is another issue." She criticised Wuhan's spending on superfluous infrastructure and hosting the World Military Games. "The money could have been used to improve people's healthcare, education and livelihood but the government just made unnecessary expenses." The aim was to put political propaganda first, not to improve people's livelihood. So she was not surprised by the current shortage of frontline epidemic prevention supplies in Wuhan. "We were not provided with money before, it would be surprising if we had enough resources."
To her, the Wuhan pneumonia is a man-made disaster. Saying that our national system is effective is just a slogan to make the consequences of authoritarianism go away. Joyce uses a metaphor of elephants (authoritarianism) and air vents (national system): "It is like a room where the elephant smells bad and you depend on only air vents to remove the stink. You should tell the elephant to fix the problem!"
Hongkongers lack foresight, not enough space to retreat
After Li's death, hundreds of millions of netizens left messages of condolence. #IWantFreedomOfSpeech started trending on Weibo. Asked whether mainlanders were becoming "enlightened", Joyce said without hesitation, "No." She saidcontrol of public opinion has been present in the Mainland for decades. She described it as "rule of the spirit". The enlightened have been that way for a long time. Most others will not reflect on the system, shouting "trust the government" to the point of death. They cannot fathom the cost of authoritarianism and have no way to turn back. Other survivors will continue to live as "winners".
"Hong Kong is also a man-made disaster." In a change of topic, Joyce said, "All the government does is obey Beijing and relinquish its ability to manage itself." In light of Hongkongers buying masks overnight, the government's refusal to quarantine and close the border and requests for the Scouts to volunteer with quarantine work, she said,"Even Wuhan's government would not do this." She believes that the Hong Kong government is sacrificing Hong Kong.
"I love this place and feel like a Hongkonger." Joyce candidly stated that her parents taught her universal values considered "foreign" to mainlanders. When she first arrived in Hong Kong to escape the confines of life in the mainland, she did not expect the radical changes of recent years. She is starting to consider emigrating again. "I truly do not want to leave Hong Kong." Joyce praised Hongkongers as "the light of the Chinese" but criticised their narrow view of the world. After the Handover in 1997, there was "not enough foresight" and a lot of wealth-seeking. Too much was given up. "We are finally resisting but do not have much space to retreat."
Reporter: Cheng Suet-fung
Source: HKEJ