Los Angeles Times - 11.03.2020

LATIMES.COM WSCE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2020A

THE WORLD

BEIJING — The high
schooler was lying in his ho-
tel bed, playing a video
game, when he heard the
sound of rushing sand.
Then the world seemed
to cave in.
The ceilings and floors
cracked open, people’s
screams mixing with the
sudden roar of a building
tumbling in upon itself.
Smoke and dust billowed
from the collapsed hotel
where Xiang had been iso-
lated on the fourth floor for
12 days, quarantined after
traveling from Hubei prov-
ince, where China’s co-
ronavirus epidemic began.
Xiang’s mother and un-
cle, also under quarantine,
were trapped under the rub-
ble. Xiang managed to climb
out, grabbing a rope thrown
by firefighters who then
moved him to a hospital bed
from which he recounted
what had happened in a vi-
deo interview with the Chi-
nese newspaper Beijing
News. His full name was not
reported. His mother and
uncle were later rescued.
Seventy-one people were
trapped in the hotel collapse
Saturday night, 58 of whom
were under quarantine after
returning from other parts
of China heavily affected by
the coronavirus, authorities
said. Twenty-six of the 68
who were pulled out of the
rubble died. As of Wednes-
day, three people remained
missing.
It was a tragedy that re-
sounded in a nation still
largely under self-quaran-
tine and isolation, a prevent-
able disaster on top of the
more than 80,000 co-
ronavirus infections and
3,000 deaths that have rav-
aged entire families on the
front lines.
It was also a disturbing
reminder of the repeated
systemic failures — innocent
deaths amid collapse of
poorly constructed build-
ings without proper supervi-
sion, viral outbreaks exacer-
bated by political cover-ups
for the sake of saving face —
that prick holes in China’s
desired image as a wealthy
superpower poised to lead
the world.
As China’s coronavirus
numbers drop, with a slow-
ing rate of daily new infec-
tions and deaths, Beijing is
pushing the narrative of a
Communist Party-led vic-
tory, which was highlighted
this week when Chinese
President Xi Jinping made a
surprise visit to Wuhan. In-
stead of acknowledging ini-
tial missteps that allowed
the spread of a virus that is
now a global threat, Chinese
diplomats are boasting that
the country’s authoritarian
system produced a superior
disease control model that
the rest of the world should
emulate.
But many Chinese peo-
ple, especially those who
have suffered the most from
the outbreak, have a differ-
ent story to tell about the
failings of their government.
Although no official reason
has been declared for the
Quanzhou hotel collapse,
police have detained the
building’s owner and are in-
vestigating whether ground-
floor renovations were to
blame. On Monday, central
authorities released a report
about mismanagement of
construction projects in sur-
rounding Fujian province.
An online outpouring of
grief for the victims included
many comments that cited
the term “tofu-dreg con-
struction,” referring to
shoddy construction more
concerned with profits than
building codes.
The term was coined in
2008 during the Wenchuan
earthquake in Sichuan prov-
ince, when thousands of chil-
dren died in collapsed “tofu-
dreg” schools. Families and
schoolteachers who sought
accountability for the bad
construction were silenced
through detention and po-
lice threat.
“The reason is still un-
clear, it’s corruption and
‘tofu construction’ again,
when can our nation become
more rational?” wrote a user
on the social media platform
Weibo.

“I feel despair after get-

ting locked into a room for

just one hour. I can’t imagine

those people trapped under

rocks for many hours. Hope

they are all surviving and

strong,” wrote another,

evoking the frustration of

hundreds of millions of peo-

ple in China who have been

largely confined to their

homes for the last 1½

months.

Chinese diplomats have

meanwhile begun a cam-

paign — giving more than

400 media interviews and

publishing more than 300 ar-

ticles in recent weeks, ac-

cording to the Foreign Min-

istry — to praise the govern-

ment’s virus control meth-

ods. State media recently

celebrated the publication

of a book by the central

propaganda department

about China’s successes

against the coronavirus, ti-

tled “A Battle Against Epi-

demic: China Combating

COVID-19 in 2020.”

The book will be pub-

lished in English, French,

Spanish, Russian and Ar-

abic, according to a Feb. 26

news release by the official

New China News Agency, so

that the world could learn

from China’s disease control

methods. But at home, skep-

ticism and anger run deep,

so much so that the party

has been forced to backtrack

several times on its propa-

ganda.

Critics on the WeChat so-

cial media app circulated

images of the “Battle

Against Epidemic” book

cover with the comment

“Totally shameless,” pos-

sibly prompting a reconsid-

eration of the timing for the

book’s publication. As of

Monday, it still was not avail-

able for purchase.

Backlashes have sur-

faced in other places too.

Vice Premier Sun Chunlan,

one of the party’s highest-

ranking officials, was tour-

ing a residential compound

in Wuhan last week, the epi-

demic’s ground zero, when

residents began shouting

from their apartment win-

dows: “Fake! Fake! It’s all

fake!”

Local news media re-

ported that residents were

protesting because the com-

pound’s management had

done a last-minute cleanup

and orchestrated a fake set-

up of grocery delivery to

locked-down apartments,

when in reality residents

were being neglected.

In an unusual move, both

the state-run People’s Daily

and CCTV published videos

of the incident, but added

commentary saying the cen-

tral government was against

such staged inspections and

criticizing local officials’ cov-

er-up of real problems.

Then over the weekend,

Wuhan’s recently installed

party secretary, Wang

Zhonglin, ignited public fury

again when he called for city-

wide “gratitude education”

on the Wuhan Communist

Party newspaper’s front

page. Wang was quoted say-

ing Wuhan’s citizens should

be educated “so that they

thank the General Secretary

[Xi Jinping], thank the Chi-

nese Communist Party,

heed the Party, walk with the

Party, and create strong

positive energy.”

Journalist Chu Zhaoxin

criticized Wang in a post

that was later deleted: “You

are a public servant, and

your job is to serve the peo-

ple. Now the people you

serve are broken, the dead

are still cold, and the tears of

the living have not yet dried.

The sick have not yet recov-

ered, and much of their dis-

satisfaction is completely

reasonable.”

Wang’s missive was

quickly deleted. Hubei’s

party secretary, Ying Yong,

made new headlines with a

public statement saying, “I

express sincere gratitude to

the people of Wuhan and the

people of Hubei.”

Meanwhile, volunteer

groups in and outside China

have begun archiving their

own histories of the

COVID-19 outbreak, saving

and posting Chinese investi-

gations, interviews, person-

al essays and social media

posts on Google Docs and

GitHub. They are building a

people’s narrative of the epi-

demic, captured in screen-

shots taken faster than the

censors can delete them.

Others have gone fur-

ther: Li Zehua, a 25-year-old

CCTV news anchor, re-

signed from his job so he

could report independently

from Wuhan.

Inspired by Chen Qiushi,

a lawyer who’d also recorded

videos of hospitals in Wuhan

and then was detained, Li

made video dispatches,

often in a Los Angeles Lak-

ers sweatshirt. He reported

from a Wuhan crematorium,

among migrant workers

who’d become homeless

under lockdown at the train

station, and in the neighbor-

hood where officials had al-

lowed 40,000 families to

gather for a Chinese New

Year potluck instead of

warning them about an in-

fectious outbreak.

He was reportedly de-

tained on Feb. 26. As state

security officers knocked on

his door, Li recorded a final

message, declaring his

“clear conscience” toward

his family, his country and

the Communication Uni-

versity of China, where he’d

studied journalism.

“I’m not willing to dis-

guise my voice, nor am I will-

ing to shut my eyes and close

my ears,” he said, adding

that he sympathized even

with the security officers at

the door: “When you support

such a cruel order uncondi-

tionally, the day will come

when the same cruel order

falls on your own heads.”

He quoted a line from rev-

olutionary Chinese writer

Lu Xun: “In this China of

ours there have always been

those who speak for the peo-

ple, who fight tenaciously,

who abandon their bodies in

search of the truth.... In

these people we discover

China’s spine.”

Then he opened the door.

Two men entered, and the

screen went dark.

Gaochao Zhang and Nicole

Liu of The Times’ Beijing

bureau contributed to this

report.

Dents to China’s all-under-control image

ABOY is rescued from the rubble of a collapsed hotel in Quanzhou, China. At least 26 people were killed in the collapse Saturday night,

according to authorities, out of 71 people trapped in the building. Fifty-eight people there were under coronavirus quarantine at the time.

AFP/Getty Images

Toll from epidemic

and building collapse

contradicts narrative

of party-led victory.

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