After Wuhan was sealed off from the world, acclaimed Chinese writer Fang Fang (方方) started an online diary about the coronavirus tragedy unfolding in her hometown.
Her journal drew tens of millions of readers — but now that it is about to be published abroad in several languages, she is facing a nationalist backlash at home.
Critics say the 64-year-old, who was awarded China’s most prestigious literary prize in 2010, is providing fodder to countries that have slammed Beijing’s handling of the pandemic.
Fang began to document life in Wuhan, the city of 11 million where COVID-19 first emerged late last year, after it was placed under an unprecedented lockdown on Jan. 23.
As authorities desperately scrambled to stop the disease from spreading across the country, she wrote about the fears, anger and hope of the industrial hub’s residents in isolation.
In one entry she mentioned seeing pictures of the city’s empty East Lake, and the “deserted and peaceful expanse of the water.”
She described residents helping each other, and the simple pleasure of the sun lighting up her room.
‘TREACHEROUS NATURE’
However, she also touched on politically sensitive topics, such as overcrowded hospitals turning away patients, mask shortages and relatives’ deaths.
“A doctor friend said to me: ‘In fact, we doctors have all known for a while that there is a human-to-human transmission of the disease, we reported this to our superiors, but yet nobody warned people,’” she wrote in one entry.
Born to a family of well-off intellectuals, the writer’s real name is Wang Fang (汪芳), but she uses the pen name Fang Fang.
Readers flocked to the online diary to get an unfiltered account from Wuhan in a communist-ruled country that lacks independent media.
Some social media users have turned on the author — especially as a new diplomatic spat has erupted between China and the US, which accuses Beijing of a lack of transparency in the outbreak’s early days, costing the world valuable time.
“Bravo Fang Fang. You’re giving Western countries ammunition to target China,” one post said about her on Sina Weibo.
“You’ve shown your treacherous nature,” it said.
‘EERIE AND DYSTOPIAN’
Another accused Fang of making money off Wuhan’s nearly 4,000 virus victims, writing: “How much did you sell the diary for?”
Hit by a barrage of online insults, Fang wrote on Sina Weibo that she was the victim of “cyberbullying” by fringe nationalists.
In an interview posted on the Web site of Chinese weekly Caixin, the author said that she had received death threats and that her home address was posted online.
The way publisher HarperCollins introduces the book — which goes on sale in June and is succinctly titled Wuhan Diary — has added fuel to the online fury.
“The stark reality of this devastating situation drives Fang Fang to courageously speak out against social injustice, corruption, abuse and the systemic political problems, which impeded the response to the epidemic,” the US publishing house said on its Web site.
The book, it says, blends “the eerie and dystopian,” and provides “a unique look at life in confinement in an authoritarian nation.”
French publisher Stock said that the book is a “first-hand testimony by a talented writer.”
Global Times editor-in-chief Hu Xijin (胡錫進) said that the diary’s foreign publication “is not really in good taste” while Beijing is in the throes of confrontation with Washington.
“In the end it will be the Chinese, including those who supported Fang Fang at the beginning, who will pay the price of her fame in the West,” Hu said in a social-media comment that drew more than 190,000 likes.
An article in the state-run newspaper said that to many Chinese, the book is “biased and only exposes the dark side in Wuhan.”
‘FREE TO WRITE’
Publishers in China who were interested in her diary are now hesitating due to the controversy, Fang said in the interview on Caixin’s Web site.
Politically sensitive content is often censored or banned in China.
In 2015, five booksellers in Hong Kong, where its mini-constitution guarantees freedom of expression, disappeared into mainland custody after publishing salacious tomes about China’s leaders.
“Why not publish this book? Just because some could use us?” Fang said.
“If people truly read my diary, they will discover the effective measures that China took against the epidemic,” she said.
Fang said that she would donate “every royalty” she receives and “will give the money to the families of health workers who worked in the front line and died.”
Loyal fans of the author have rallied around her on Sina Weibo.
“Fang Fang owes nothing to anyone,” one wrote. “You’re free to write a diary that goes against what she wrote, translate it and publish it abroad.”
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s (李顯龍) decision to step down after 19 years and hand power to his deputy, Lawrence Wong (黃循財), on May 15 was expected — though, perhaps, not so soon. Most political analysts had been eyeing an end-of-year handover, to ensure more time for Wong to study and shadow the role, ahead of general elections that must be called by November next year. Wong — who is currently both deputy prime minister and minister of finance — would need a combination of fresh ideas, wisdom and experience as he writes the nation’s next chapter. The world that
Can US dialogue and cooperation with the communist dictatorship in Beijing help avert a Taiwan Strait crisis? Or is US President Joe Biden playing into Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) hands? With America preoccupied with the wars in Europe and the Middle East, Biden is seeking better relations with Xi’s regime. The goal is to responsibly manage US-China competition and prevent unintended conflict, thereby hoping to create greater space for the two countries to work together in areas where their interests align. The existing wars have already stretched US military resources thin, and the last thing Biden wants is yet another war.
As Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu’s party won by a landslide in Sunday’s parliamentary election, it is a good time to take another look at recent developments in the Maldivian foreign policy. While Muizzu has been promoting his “Maldives First” policy, the agenda seems to have lost sight of a number of factors. Contemporary Maldivian policy serves as a stark illustration of how a blend of missteps in public posturing, populist agendas and inattentive leadership can lead to diplomatic setbacks and damage a country’s long-term foreign policy priorities. Over the past few months, Maldivian foreign policy has entangled itself in playing