An essay writes by an anonymous author about the living in Wuhan, China, which is the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. The author of this essay asked for anonymity for fear of reprisals by authorities for speaking of the Chinese government.
As residents of Wuhan, China, my family and I are living in hell. The city is lockdown for more than a month. Every night before falling asleep I have been confronted by an unreal feeling and many questions?
I know that coronavirus is the reason for the lockdown-but did life in Wuhan has 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 official about how to cope when an entire city is on lockdown? I’m 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 the middle class.
The Essay
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.
The essay is additionally deeply individual. The writer talks about, for instance, how they have actually striven and also stayed quiet about national politics. In an initiative to lead a protected life, yet have actually come as frustrated with the Chinese federal government. After it was sluggish to educate the public about coronavirus.