Mielenkiintoinen tekstikokoelma nettipäiväkirjan ominaisuudessa suljetusta koronan runtelemasta Wuhanista. Varsinaisen pääaiheen lisäksi näin ulkopuoliselle länsimaiselle lukijalle oli mielenkiintoista seurata myös nyky-Kiinan päätöksentekijöiden ja toteuttajien toimintaa (tai ainakin kirjoittajan tulkintoja siitä), sekä kiinalaisen somen (Weibo) kuohuntaa ja samanlaisia laumakäyttäytymisen malleja, jotka näyttävät olevan syvällä ihmisluonnossa ja syntyvät kuin itsestään jokaiselle erilliselle alustalle, kielestä ja kulttuurista riippumatta.

A fascinating read not just about the pandemic but also about living in China.

This was a fascinating story about recent history. It was written as a blog, so it is immediate impressions. Interesting middle ground discussion about public safety and a general critique of China's zero case policy. It is a stream of consciousness narrative from a major Chinese writer. She found herself criticized by the hard left (supporters of the Chinese government) and I found it very interesting to listen to a history where the slam that you are a tool of the American Government is bullying which the author takes great offence with.

I don't know how this women is still free...

Originally published as a series of daily blog posts from late January to late March of 2020, this book recounts Chinese author Fang Fang's experiences in the initial epicenter of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, the city went into lockdown in an (unfortunately futile) effort to contain the virus, and Fang, a lifelong Wuhan resident, was there to offer her perspective and attempt to corral all the breaking information and personal stories that came her way. The 65-year-old academic gained a global audience through her writing, as well as some objections over accuracy and critiques that she was either too hard or too soft on the local political response.

It's interesting to read Fang's words in translation a few months later on. A lot of what's novel for her and her neighbors has become our unhappy new normal -- shelter-in-place ordinances, face masks, grocery shortages, business closures, etc. -- and the unintentional foreshadowing is somewhat uncanny, even though Fang never once predicts that the epidemic will go worldwide. The blogger is also presenting what she learns about the coronavirus as she hears it, so there are a few claims, as she warns in a foreword to the finished text, that we now know are incorrect. And in fact, a growing theme across the diary is her anger at the early experts who told people that the disease was a minor concern that could not spread from human to human.

Removed from the context of a digital ecosystem there are pieces to this work that fall a little flat, especially the writer's snippy reactions to contemporary critics and aggravation at the government censors who take down her entries without explanation. Yet she has a keen eye for observation and the valuable ability to synthesize a narrative from disparate strands, and she helps provide a sense not just of what life was like in that moment, but also of how the quarantine was almost destined to fail.

We are still far from the end of the crisis, and it's difficult to predict how future generations will someday look back and study all this. But it would not surprise me if Fang Fang's on-the-ground reporting becomes key testimony in that regard.

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Tämä ei ole tärkeä dokumentti ainoastaan koronapandemian alkuvaiheista, vaan myös Kiinan nykyisestä poliittisesta ilmapiiristä. Yhtäläisyyksiä on vedettävissä molemmissa asioissa myös meille Eurooppaan ja Fang Fangin kaltaisille tarkkanäköisille havaitsijoille todella on tarvetta niin idässä kuin lännessä.