Read on Twitter
An overwhelming torrent of criticism coming towards Wuhan-based female writer Fang Fang because of her decision to publish her Wuhan Diary in English and Germany.
The criticism can be summarized as: you& #39;re aiding the enemy& #39;s narrative that China messed up (initially).
Bullshit.
The criticism can be summarized as: you& #39;re aiding the enemy& #39;s narrative that China messed up (initially).
Bullshit.
One high-profile representative of the criticism comes from 苏群 Su Qun, an NBA commentator on CCTV, who wrote 方方这个英文版，发得不是时候 (The English version from Fang Fang, coming at a bad time) https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/0X9ugNylmymJo5W0lhgU6g
Such">https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/0X9ugNy... stupid criticism
Such">https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/0X9ugNy... stupid criticism
These voices basically say because U.S. and a big part of the West are now trying to ask China to admit it made mistakes and bear responsibilities, what Fang did - publishing in foreign languages - is aiding and abetting the enemy.
Ridiculous argument on numerous levels
Ridiculous argument on numerous levels
They think a writer& #39;s personal diary could be so powerful as some kind of evidence or weapon to the enemy. But:
if China is really flawless, would a personal diary be able to change anything?
if China isn& #39;t really flawless, what extra harm could an extra diary do?
if China is really flawless, would a personal diary be able to change anything?
if China isn& #39;t really flawless, what extra harm could an extra diary do?
While Western liberals and politically-correct corps. try to make a difference, here on Twitter and in mediasphere, between China as a country, Chinese as a people, Chinese govt as a govt, Party as a party, the default way of thinking of the Chinese elites and Main Street do NOT
That despite Wuhan as a city, Hubei as a province and China as a country suffered tremendous consequences because of initial mess up, this school of thought is fully willing to disregard the consequences and rushing to defend something utterly indefensible
It& #39;s either-you-are-with-us-or-against-us
it& #39;s 家丑不可外扬 the problems and laundry at home(land) must not be exposed to the outside
it& #39;s we will sweep everything under the carpet to hide it from outsiders
You can be China& #39;s conscience one day and a traitor the very next day
it& #39;s 家丑不可外扬 the problems and laundry at home(land) must not be exposed to the outside
it& #39;s we will sweep everything under the carpet to hide it from outsiders
You can be China& #39;s conscience one day and a traitor the very next day
It& #39;s some shallow, brainless patriotism/nationalism/national pride at its worst, thanks to a century of humiliation (sorry for bringing up a cliche) from the West and decades of Party-shaped education
They don& #39;t know upholding some basic rights such as the freedom to publish will ultimately do much much more good to Motherland than bad; that certain basic freedoms must be cherished dearly, overriding their cheap, fake sense of national pride
I do have a caveat here.
In my opinion, Fang did a terrible job in differentiating between facts and non-facts, which is in itself not blameworthy since she is just a human being. But she doesn& #39;t realize this and made no effort to differentiate
In my opinion, Fang did a terrible job in differentiating between facts and non-facts, which is in itself not blameworthy since she is just a human being. But she doesn& #39;t realize this and made no effort to differentiate
Her diary, from the Chinese versions I wrote, is full of unsubstantiated rumors, apparent exaggerations, unreliable hearsay which have no factual basis to trained eyes.
It& #39;s neither non-fiction, nor fiction, and that& #39;s the worst part: readers will never know
It& #39;s neither non-fiction, nor fiction, and that& #39;s the worst part: readers will never know
So while I wholeheartedly champion her rights to publish in whatever language at whatever timing of her like and vigorously defend the publication against the brainless detractors, I urge you to NOT read it as a preprint of history.
