Write a paragraph on a condition when our city was lockdown and I was at my home
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OPINION
THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS
Personal Essay: Coronavirus Lockdown Is A 'Living Hell'
March 3, 202010:55 AM ET
A RESIDENT OF WUHAN
Editor's note: The author of this essay asked for anonymity for fear of reprisals by authorities for speaking critically of the Chinese government.
The government lockdown orders in Wuhan, China, have emptied the city's streets.
Stringer for NPR
As residents of Wuhan, China, my family and I are living in hell.
The city has been locked down for more than a month. Every night before falling asleep I have been confronted by an unreal feeling and many questions:
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To read this essay in Chinese, click here.
I know that coronavirus is the reason for the lockdown — but did life in Wuhan have to become a living hell?
Why were we notified about the city lockdown at 2 a.m. on the second to last morning before the Lunar New Year?
Why have I not been given any instructions from a government officer about how to cope when an entire city is on lockdown?
I'm nearly 30 years old. My family members and I have devoted ourselves to our jobs to build a better life — and we have largely succeeded. There's only a little more to do before we reach the level of middle class.
But along the way, things did not go exactly as I'd hoped. I have been working hard in school since I was small. My dream was to become a journalist, and I passed the test to enter the best school for journalism in China.
After school, I learned that government supervision of the media meant that telling the truth was not an option. So I gave up my dream and turned to another career.
I kept telling myself that my hard work would reward me in my personal life. And to protect myself, I decided to shut up, to be silent about politics — even when I saw people treated unfairly by the government. I thought that if I followed that path, I would be secure, I would be one of the fortunate ones.
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Now I realize that this is an illusion. A secure life is not an option with a political system that does not give us freedom to speak out and that does not communicate with us truthfully.
Now I realize that this is an illusion. A secure life is not an option with a political system that does not give us freedom to speak out and that does not communicate with us truthfully.
Wuhan resident
At the moment when the city was first locked down, I hoped with all my heart that China's political system, known for concentrating resources to get big jobs done, could save the Wuhanese. But infected patients were treated in the hospital in Wuhan as early as the beginning of December, and for unknown reasons, the government held off informing the public and taking effective action.
So they missed the best window of prevention due to this cover-up.
That knowledge has made me fall into desperation. The order to lock down the city appeared from nowhere on Jan. 23 at 2 a.m., without any sign or explanation to residents — even though everyone knew what was up.
People rushed to shop at 24-hour convenience stores at 3 a.m. to gather necessary food and other items. We tried every method to escape from Wuhan, but the cage was already locked.
On new year's eve, Jan. 24, I watched the glorious performances from a gala aired on CCTV, Chinese television. But our celebratory meal was sparse, pieced together from the few ingredients I'd been able to buy in that last-minute shopping trip.
Then on the second day of the new year, another order arrived out of the blue, notifying us that the Wuhanese shall not drive. But this order only survived for less than six hours — perhaps because the authorities realized that, with public transportation shut down, cars would be needed to drive medical staffers to work and back home. So community officers called upon residents of Wuhan to provide rides for many of these workers — and to get permits to do this driving. Under the pressure of massive criticism, the government had to revoke this order for residents to provide rides.
Other orders were issued that reflected the chaos. Residents were asked to donate rice and oil to feed the medical staffers at Wuhan's top hospital since there was not enough food to guarantee meals for them. But we are the taxpayers. Shouldn't the government be able to provide?
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