18 Time September 21/September 28, 2020
every year, on aug. 25, China Cele
brates the Qixi Festival, the nation’s
equivalent of Valentine’s Day. Rooted in
a mythical romance between an oxherd
and a weaver girl, it’s when romance
blooms and gooeyeyed sweethearts
exchange overpriced trinkets.
In the central city of Wuhan, where
the COVID19 pandemic first emerged
in December, couples relished this
year’s festivities more than most. Ding
Hui, 33, contracted the virus in mid
January and only survived after being
intubated in an intensivecare unit.
Now fully recovered, Ding threw a
party to celebrate Qixi with friends in a
penthouse overlooking the Han River.
Hearts were painted on the windows;
black, white and gold balloons added a
touch of glamour, plus entertainment
for her son Niu Niu, 7. Her sickness
lent perspective to her own romantic
situation. “In the past, I wanted to
divorce my husband every time we
quarreled,” says Ding. “But after I was
discharged from the hospital, I told my
husband that... I would never mention
divorce again.”
The coronavirus pandemic continues
to rage across every continent, with
more than 25 million cases reported
globally. On Sept. 7, India set a world
rec ord for daily infections with 90,
new cases. Yet China reported just 12
that same day, all imported. Here, the
pandemic feels like old news.
When this reporter was last in
Wuhan in January, it was just hours
before authorities enforced a draconian
76 day lockdown and the streets were
already desolate. When I returned in
August, my cab driver didn’t even wear a
face mask. Traffic was either snarled or
terrifyingly fast.
And love was in the air. At Fatty
Fatty Crawfish Restaurant, couples
gazed into each other’s eyes over steam
ing piles of desecrated crustacean
Wuhan strives to
return to normal,
but coronavirus
scars run deep
By Charlie Campbell/
Wuhan, China
the “Wuhan virus,” Chinese officials
have seized on the city’s resurgence as
vindication of the country’s autocratic
political system. When photographs of
thousands of young people crammed
into a poolparty rave in Wuhan went
viral in midAugust, many in the U.S.
criticized their revelry as insensitive,
given the spiraling death toll elsewhere.
But China’s jingoistic state
media were unrepentant,
brushing off objections as
“sour grapes.”
Only time will tell whether
there will be more trouble
ahead. The source of the out
break still has not been estab
lished, though the working
hypothesis is that it leaped
from an unknown animal to a human
connected to Wuhan’s Huanan sea
food market, which was known to stock
various exotic species. That market re
mains closed today, but throughout the
city TIME saw streetside stalls selling
butchered meat alongside live cray
fish, eels and huge pulsing bullfrogs.
The fear is that confidence bleeds into
complacency.
“China is very strong,” Ding says. “I
am grateful that I have been in China
[during the pandemic]. Had I caught
the virus in a different country, I
probably would not be alive today.” TheBrief Postcard
△
After school on Sept. 2 in Wuhan, where
life’s normal rhythms have resumedshells, crimson grease dripping from
gloved hands onto plastic tablecloths.
Outside, young lovers crammed into
karaoke booths and browsed jewelry at
teeming night markets, grateful to plan
for the future once again.Yet Wuhan remains a nervy,
contradictory place, desperate
to banish bad memories that it
cannot afford to forget. At her
party, between joshing with
friends from behind comical
pink sunglasses, Ding makes
sure to spray the takeaway food
containers with sterilizing ethanol. In
the building’s lobby, a vending machine
sponsored by U.S. conglomerate 3M
sells masks, hand sanitizer and other
plague sundries. The economy is still
suffering; the latest data, from May,
suggests factory output, retail sales, and
exports in Wuhan are a long way from
returning to normal, while many shops
and businesses have closed for good.
“Wuhan is a badly injured child, still
slowly recovering,” says Ding.
Wuhan’s recovery has become a
propaganda tussle. While President
Trump has described the pandemic as76
Consecutive
days Wuhan was
locked down, from
Jan.