Chinese writer Fang Fang, who was named one of the BBC’s top 100 women of the year, has attracted a great deal of attention at home and abroad for her “Wuhan Diary” and has faced threats, abuse and attacks from the far left in China. But Fang told the BBC on Monday that she has no regrets.
The BBC has announced its 2020 “Women’s 100” list, which includes Wuhan Diary author Fang Fang, former Hong Kong Public Opinion member Zhou Ting and actress Michelle Yeoh.
During the outbreak of the epidemic in Wuhan, she recorded what she saw, heard and felt every day for two months as the city was shut down, and her simple writing conveyed the sadness of sharing the fate of her fellow city dwellers. After the epidemic was initially brought under control in China, the news that Wuhan Diary would be published in several countries overseas caused the far-left forces to viciously slander her, calling her a “traitor” and a “betrayer” to the anti-China forces in the West. “It’s not all the same,” Fang said in a BBC interview published Thursday about her ‘Wuhan Diary’.
In an interview with the BBC published on Thursday about her “Wuhan Diary”, Fang Fang said that she recorded it objectively and gently, without any intention of confronting anyone, “just sympathizing with individuals, criticizing the government, and writing down various measures to fight the epidemic. Of course I also strongly appealed for accountability, that’s all.” Fang thought that “she had been helping the government, including giving opinions and pointing out problems, which was also a way to help, and when the government did well, I also praised them. What she didn’t expect was that many rumors and false accusations would follow, but she has no regrets.
Fang Fang said, “I was only sealed off in the city for 60 days to document the epidemic, and this caused such a great tear in China, as well as months of cyber-violence by people, mainly on the far left, with all sorts of abuses, rumor-mongering, and frame-ups in a group manner, which I did not expect at all. This shows the arrogance and marketability of the extreme left in China.”
Wuhan Diary has been published overseas in French, English and German, with no news of a Chinese version. Fang Fang told the BBC that neither her new works nor new editions of her old works can be published in China, and she is unable to publish anything in the Chinese print media.
However, even though Fang Fang has been framed and attacked by far-left forces, she still receives flowers from readers from time to time, and a text message circulating among her friends reads: “When I go out occasionally after the epidemic, people always express their gratitude to me. I am honored to hear such words. Thanks to the 60 days that were written in the diary, I can’t remember many details. Otherwise, I can’t remember many details.”
A scholar named Li Yi, who is said to be famous for calling for the “reunification of Taiwan”, went so far as to say in the past two days that the Wuhan epidemic, which killed more than 4,000 Chinese, was nothing compared to the epidemic abroad, and that it was equivalent to no deaths, zero deaths. This is the first time I’ve seen a video from a man named Li Yi, who said that the epidemic in Wuhan has killed more than 4,000 Chinese people, compared to foreign countries. His laughter when talking about the epidemic and his cheerful talk about ‘zero deaths’ reminded me of one word: hideous. How many hideous faces have been seen in the past few months.”
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