By Xixiang Weng
Recently, the new coronavirus spread around the world and make thousands of people suffer. Wuhan is the first city where this virus mass outbreak and its residents are the people who suffer most from that. Unluckily, the virus is not the only thing to make them in trouble. Their identity of Wuhan’s resident also makes them face injustices.
Due to the fear of the virus, Chinese people in other provinces tend to be away from Wuhan people. For example, if you are a Wuhan people and you go to another province. People would think that you get no sense of responsibility since you make all the people under the risk of being infected. Besides, although Chinese officials claim that they have warned against the discrimination against Wuhan people, some policy they set up, such as restrict Wuhan people’s normal use of state road, shows the discrimination to Wuhan people. Some local governments even set up road blockage in the road to Wuhan, which makes many Wuhan people who work outside can’t meet their family during the Lunar New Year. The Chinese government set up road blockage in the road to Wuhan
Also, in some big city, such as Shanghai and Guangzhou, the local government order the neighborhood committee to encourage people to report the Wuhan’s resident or Wuhan returnees around them, so that they can send them back to Wuhan.
When Wuhan people are suffering from the virus, as their compatriot, we are supposed to try our best to help them go through that, however, some unreasonable policy Chinese government set and discrimination some Chinese people express make Wuhan people face so much injustice. The video below is an interview with a Wuhan people living in Beijing, she narrates can make us know more about the current situation of Wuhan people I describe above.
The injustice Wuhan people are facing reminds me of the “The Story of My Body”. People think Ortiz is “dirty” since her different physical looks and Puerto Rican identity (Ortiz 436). Similarly, Wuhan people are treated as “The Other” by their compatriots while they are suffering from the virus. In some Chinese people’s sight, Wuhan’s residents are already not their compatriot, but just the virus which needs to be segregated. This circumstance not only expresses some Chinese people and government’s unreasonable attitude of facing the plague, but also the systemic injustice Wuhan people are currently facing.
Work Cited
Gan, Nectar. “Outcasts in Their Own Country, the People of Wuhan Are the Unwanted Faces of China’s Coronavirus Outbreak.” Albany Herald, CNN, 15 Feb. 2020, www.albanyherald.com/news/world_nation/outcasts-in-their-own-country-the-people-of-wuhan-are/article_705d3409-4819-5f69-b4f7-cfc36424bd11.html.
Our Enemy Is the Virus, Not People from Hubei or Wuhan – YouTube, South China Morning Post, www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkdPFCStA38.
From following the Coronavirus, I have seen a lot of media present the people of Wuhan, and in some cases the Chinese people in general in ways that blame this virus outbreak on them. This is upsetting because viruses have to run their course, and their is little to nothing one can do to recover quicker. It also upsets me that the media is taking advantage of an illness and using it to publicize the Wuhan people in not so kind ways. This is of course not an ideal situation, and the media is blowing it up. The people of Wuhan are definitely being treated as the “Other”, for something that is out of their control. They have no control over how the media frame the situation either.
I strongly agree with your idea. When the virus first breaks out in Wuhan, Wuhan residents became discriminated targets. Many people in China calls Wuhan people as “Black sheep”. However, when the virus became global issue. Many people around world start to have a prejudice against all Chinese people, and even call the virus as “Chinese Virus”. In current situation, the whole world is in danger. I think people all around world should get united and figure out how to fight against virus instead of virus-victims.
Hello Xixiang Weng, thanks for your post as I feel like it was a really important one during this time. Times are definitely crazy, there is no doubt about that. But through this class and posts like yours I feel like it’s important to recognize that people need help, not shunned away. As you said, just because someone is from Wuhan doesn’t mean they have the virus. Just because someone is from China doesn’t mean they have the virus. Heck, just because someone coughs doesn’t mean they have the virus. People still need to be treated equally during this time and we need to get through it together. Stay safe! And good luck the rest of this semester.