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A review by zrock
Wuhan Diary: Dispatches from the Original Epicenter by Fang Fang
4.0
Every year there are a handful of books that spark controversy without actually being controversial, and this is definitely one of those for 2020. It needs to be read as an experiential diary, not an authoritative book. It needs to be read knowing the author is a well-known writer with few delusions about herself and with an individualist streak living in a collectivist society. Nationalists are saying she’s not obedient enough and foreigners are saying she’s too obedient, but neither come with many concessions. This is how you know neither likely know enough to have an un-blinkered opinion. Many phrases should be recognized as translation quirks, and yes, it is repetitive—but that’s how you know it was written under quarantine as the situation was unfolding. I could go on. Quite simply, a lot of reviewers don’t seem to know what they’re talking about, nor do they seem interested in learning where an author is coming from or putting themselves in her shoes before critiquing her diary.
The collection has a few insights and a lot of common sense relating to culture, mob mentality, flow of information, digital dialogue, keyboard warriors, misinformation, humility, East/west mindsets, criticism, death, hindsight, frustration, decisiveness, leadership, expertise, society, uncertainty...the list goes on. Readers unfamiliar with neither China nor Wuhan specifically will benefit first from getting context by looking into the city and its geography, the yuan exchange rate (~6.8 per 1 USD), the timeline in January, etc.
I was living in Wuhan but traveling in Chengdu as things hit the fan and as she wrote much of this—and much of it rings extremely familiar and quite personal as it does for countless others around the world now but especially those in and around Wuhan at the time. For several reasons, it—along with many other pandemic diaries from around the world—is certainly one of the most important writings of the year. It will certainly be valuable when we look back on the pandemic and 2020 in general, and we should value voices describing their experiences in the midst of chaos and uncertainty, especially at a time when people will look at you in the eyes with a self-assured straight face and tell you what happened to you didn’t actually happen because your views don’t match theirs.
The collection has a few insights and a lot of common sense relating to culture, mob mentality, flow of information, digital dialogue, keyboard warriors, misinformation, humility, East/west mindsets, criticism, death, hindsight, frustration, decisiveness, leadership, expertise, society, uncertainty...the list goes on. Readers unfamiliar with neither China nor Wuhan specifically will benefit first from getting context by looking into the city and its geography, the yuan exchange rate (~6.8 per 1 USD), the timeline in January, etc.
I was living in Wuhan but traveling in Chengdu as things hit the fan and as she wrote much of this—and much of it rings extremely familiar and quite personal as it does for countless others around the world now but especially those in and around Wuhan at the time. For several reasons, it—along with many other pandemic diaries from around the world—is certainly one of the most important writings of the year. It will certainly be valuable when we look back on the pandemic and 2020 in general, and we should value voices describing their experiences in the midst of chaos and uncertainty, especially at a time when people will look at you in the eyes with a self-assured straight face and tell you what happened to you didn’t actually happen because your views don’t match theirs.