Chinese fighting COVID-19: A researcher in Wuhan

Author: Wang Nian is an associate research fellow at the Institute of Market Economy of the Development Research Center of the State Council. Wang returned to Wuhan for Spring Festival in January and was held up there due to the city lockdown.

In this article, Wang wrote about how his family struggled to act responsibly as citizens, how his siblings worked consecutively to fight against the virus, how he started voluntary work and how he worked online as a researcher trying best to contribute to the country's battle against the COVID-19.

Wang is one of the 1.4 billion Chinese citizens. We believe that it is only because so many people are acting as responsible citizens, performing their duties and making their contributions, that we are able to defeat the COVID-19 outbreak as a nation. We also believe that we will defeat the virus as human beings if everyone acts with responsibility and solidarity.

We try our best to be responsible citizens - notes taken by a Wuhanese

I was born and raised in Wuhan and am now working as junior researcher at the government think tank DRC. I booked my flight back to Wuhan on Jan 22, 2020, hoping to enjoy a long vacation and a happy reunion with my family after a busy year. I noticed the news on Jan 21 that President Xi made instructions on precautions against COVID-19, so I kept wearing a mask on the way back, like most of the passengers and cabin crew. I had no clue what was really waiting for me ahead.

On the day of the city lockdown

On the morning of Jan 23, I heard the news that Wuhan will be locked down later that day. My intuition told me it must be fake news, which my grandpa agreed with while laughing. Here I quote his words: "Not a single city has been locked down since the founding of the People's Republic of China."

Albeit still in great shock, we realized the severity of this outbreak and had a serious discussion on what actions to take. I have to admit the first solution coming across my mind was to flee out of the city to Hainan, where my aunt lives.

But what if we were already infected? We decided to stay. And the reason was simple: The initial intention of this order was to protect the whole nation. Thus, it is our responsibility to follow the instruction so as to stop the virus from spreading.

Soon afterwards, still in anxiety and fear, my family had another long meeting recalling details of our life within the past two weeks, listing all possible dangerous contacts, hoping we had escaped from the first round of transmission. On the first day of the lockdown, like all the rest of the 9 million citizens in Wuhan, we felt vividly that we were facing a war.

Fully prepared for the battle against the virus

Once the battle began, the first thing was to ensure we had sufficient replenishment. I am the youngest one in the family, so I volunteered for grocery shopping. Driving out and making private purchases was not banned at that time.

But I was still a little too optimistic about the epidemic, so I just bought the amount for two weeks. A few days later, private vehicles were banned from streets, which made getting supplies for basic living a big challenge.

My elder sister is a civil servant who had kept working consecutively for 17 hours per day since Jan 23. Her main responsibility was to prepare food and accommodations for doctors and nurses coming from other provinces.

My brother-in-law's company is the main contractor of Huoshenshan Hospital. He hurried to the construction site on Jan 23 and stayed there until the construction work was completed and the hospital welcomed its first patients.

My parents took the job of canceling all visitation activities, during which we heard news of an old neighbor passing away. Death suddenly made its appearance and put my whole family in grief.

We became extremely worried about my sister and her husband getting infected at work. But we knew that more people were counting on them to get protection from the virus. We all have our own responsibilities to take in this war.

Be a responsible person

I deeply regret that I am not a doctor in this lifetime and that I cannot go to Wuhan to join the fight. – Words of DRC Party Secretary Ma Jiantang

I was deeply moved and highly motivated by Mr Ma's words when I read about them in our work chat group. I am not a doctor, but I am a CPC member and a researcher who is at the front line. I felt committed to joining the fight.

As a researcher at the Market Economy Institute of DRC, I have acumen in identifying market problems and making feasible policy recommendations. In the first a few days of the city lockdown, when everyone's attention focused on the virus itself and stories in the hospitals, I saw some other potential risks emerging.

One was a food supply shortage and logistics shutdown, which would be a big problem soon since there were 9 million people grounded at home and the market was almost frozen. I reported my worries to Wang Wei, director-general of my institute. She was very concerned and helped make the message heard. I am happy and proud that I made my contribution.

Another "battlefield" is to maintain the functioning of the economy and society. It might be a little harder for those working in a factory or on a farm, but for a researcher like myself, this could be perfectly solved by using a Chinese online application called DingTalk. As far as I know, this app has also been greatly helpful to teachers, students and journalists. In a word, everyone is being active as well as creative in taking their share of responsibility.

Becoming a volunteer

The most important lesson I learned from our war against the COVID-19 is that we are a community with shared future.

As the lockdown continued and prevention and control measures were upgraded, more inconvenience and challenges appeared in people's daily lives, especially for the elderly who live alone. A few of my neighbors thus organized a volunteer team collaborating with local community workers to help those in need.

It was not until I joined the community volunteers that I got a clear picture of the under-staffed situation and the stressful workload. Since I became a volunteer, I have barely had time to rest.

We had helped a senior obtain necessary drugs as she could not get them from the drugstore that she used to visit. We had helped with babysitting a boy and a girl as their parents were both quarantined in temporary hospitals. We also had helped a young man find temporary accommodation as he could not locate an available hotel.

What gives us strength is the help we received from everywhere, from the government's and many companies' efforts to provide food at cost value, from foreign friends' timely donations, from a deliveryman's offer of free service at midnight, from a farmer's hand-picked fresh fruit transported from a faraway province. All of these made people in the blocked city created a very strong and united community.

As a Wuhanese, I have lived through fear and anxiety, but have never lost the courage to fight. I am very grateful to the medical staff, the civil servants, the community workers, the volunteers and all the responsible families who stayed at home, for the great sacrifice they made to protect China. I am also proud to have the opportunity to take my share of responsibilities. Each person takes his own responsibility and together we form a responsible China. After the outbreak, I will consider establishing my own family and having my own children. I am very lucky and proud that they can grow up in this land that I love.