Publication in English of a diary written by an award-winning Chinese author documenting her life in Wuhan in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak has not earned universal approval in China.
Fang Fang – whose real name is Wang Fang – began documenting events in the city on Chinese social media site Weibo. The BBC reports that the 65-year-old’s diary entries were widely read, providing millions in China with a rare glimpse into the city where the virus first emerged.
However, with publishers announcing that they would collate her entries and publish them in several languages, Fang Fang’s growing international recognition has come with a shift in the way she is viewed in China – with many angered by her reporting, even branding her a traitor.
The BBC reported that the anger against her ‘is not helped by the fact that the book was published by US publisher HarperCollins – at a time when the US and China are in the midst of a diplomatic spat’.
Chinese state media have also made it very clear what their position is on Fang Fang.
Said a piece by the Global Times: ‘Her global rise propelled by foreign media outlets has sounded the alarm for many in China that the writer might have become just another handy tool for the West to sabotage Chinese people’s efforts.
‘Her diary only exposes the dark side in Wuhan while ignoring the efforts that local people made and the support extended across the nation.’
HarperCollins said Fang Fang ‘gave voice to the fears, frustrations, anger, and hope of millions of her fellow citizens’, but ‘also speaks out against social injustice, abuse of power, and other problems which impeded the response to the epidemic and gets herself embroiled in online controversies because of it’.