April 4, 2020 is China’s ‘Tomb-sweeping Day’. On this day, in order to express the deep condolences of the martyrs and deceased compatriots who sacrificed their lives to fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, the Chinese State Council decided to hold a national mourning event. During this period, flags were flying at half-mast across the country and overseas Embassies and Consulates, and public entertainment was suspended. On April 7, after two and half months of lockdown, Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei Province, allowed public transportation to resume. We can now say that the COVID-19 epidemic has “basically been stopped” in China.
However, what we did not expect is that countries in Europe and North America have now become the hardest hit areas of the world, and the epidemic situation in Latin American and Africa is also beginning to spread. The number of infected people in the world has reached 1.2 million, and the United States alone has reached 330,000, which is far from the peak and the turning point for the epidemic has not yet arrived.
When the epidemic broke out, Chinese scholars discussed three possible outcomes of the COVID-19 epidemic. The best result would be that the treatment of all patients ends within 2 to 4 weeks, and the epidemic situation in the whole country is controlled within 2 to 3 months. The worst result: the control fails and the coronavirus swept the world. Between the two would be a situation where the number of COVID-19 cases increases, but in a controlled way, as a result of which defeating the coronavirus would take a long time, possibly as long as half a year to a year. Judging from the current situation, China has not achieved the best possible results, but has avoided the worst.
However, the forecasts at that time only considered the situation in China, and did not expect that the coronavirus would spread across the globe in such a short time. This shows the difficulty of containing the virus on the one hand, and on the other hand shows that it does recognize countries, nations, races, ages, genders, religions, or classes. There is no political correctness for the coronavirus. If it is not taken seriously, the world and the people will undoubtedly suffer a great deal. This is a “world virus” that requires governments and people of all the countries in the world to join hands, give up prejudice, strengthen cooperation, and unite together. Only in this way can we come through this great crisis.
China has made tremendous sacrifices in the fight against the novel coronavirus. Although the epidemic spread very fast in the beginning due to the insufficient knowledge of this virus, the initial slow responses of the local government, the inadequate supply of medical supplies, the late coverage of the news related to this virus, and the mass movement of people in Spring Festival, as the national consensus was reached, especially since the closure of Wuhan, the central government, local governments, social forces, and the broad masses of the people quickly united and adopted the policy of “early discovery, early reporting, early isolation, early diagnosis, early treatment” in order to “leave no one unattended, and leave on one untreated”.
Judging from its response to the COVID-19 epidemic, China not only has a strong government but also a well organized society. The central government dispatched a central guidance group led by the Vice Prime Minister to guide the entire province in the fight against the epidemic. Other provinces and cities where the epidemic situation is not serious provided necessary assistance to Wuhan such as medical teams, medical equipment, and daily necessities. Civilian forces like commonwealth organizations and guilds assisted in donating money and materials to Wuhan. The army also sent high-level medical experts to join in this battle. Police, community staff, couriers, sanitation workers etc. are all struggling on the front line of the anti-epidemic battlefield.
The 1.3 billion people are even more self-disciplined, preferring to change the traditional customs of paying a New Year’s call during Spring Festival, staying at home to ensure their own safety and that of others. Everyone shares in the belief that staying at home has contributed to society and the country. One point that needs to be mentioned is that the medical expenses of each sick person are borne by the state. In fact, the treatment costs are very expensive. If there was no support from the government, the number of deaths would increase greatly.
This reflects the advantages of the Chinese system. In fact, China’s model is not the only useful and efficient method to control the COVID-19, many countries have adopted an anti-epidemic model different from China according to their national conditions and have also achieved success, such as in Singapore and South Korea. On the contrary, some great powers not only show no sympathy towards China, but also accuse and stigmatize China regularly.
For example, there are politicians and media in the United States who constantly call the novel coronavirus the “Wuhan virus” or the “China virus”, attributing their unfavorable epidemic situation to China. When the COVID-19 epidemic had just broken out, they sneered at China. When China controlled the epidemic, it accused China’s humanitarian aid abroad as “predatory aid”. When the COVID-19 epidemic broke out in its own country, it accused China of being not transparent and providing falsifying data.
In fact, the epidemic is controllable if some strict measures are taken. If you wash your hands frequently, wear masks in the crowd, keep a one-meter distance from strangers, do regular ventilation, separate meals, and reduce gathering, one can almost assure themselves safety. So why is the media still dissatisfied with China’s anti-epidemic achievements? I think they are actually angry with themselves for their own choices. If it turns out that the attitudes, responses and countermeasures they took against COVID-19 were wrong from the very beginning, it will affect their self-confidence, their identity and their national system, criticism of which they could not bear.
Of course, the advantages of the Chinese system do not necessarily mean that the Western system is bad in and of itself, but it does highlight the limitations of the West. Although some Western countries’ accusations against China have only grown worse, many countries showed solidarity and friendship when China during the most difficult moments. For examples, the first 21 countries that provide assistance to China (South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Hungary, Belarus, Turkey, Iran, UAE, Algeria, Egypt, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago) will be remembered in the hearts of the Chinese people. Besides, many friendly people from all walks of life in a lot of countries have also provided support to China in fighting the epidemic in various ways. China is a country that knows how to be grateful: a true friend is a friend in need. The Chinese government and Chinese people will bear this in mind and will look for opportunities to provide more humanitarian aid to the international community.
Guided by slogans such as “Warm and Cold, We Share Together”, what should we human beings do as a whole?
First, we must unite together, abandon parochial nationalism, embrace internationalism again, and reach consensus on strengthening international cooperation.
Second, we must believe in the power of science. Overcoming the spread of the novel coronavirus requires not only the politicians’ responsibility, leadership, and mobilization, but more importantly, it requires listening to the voice of scientists, taking the facts as the criterion, and not spreading rumors or conspiracy theories.
Third, respect common sense. In the west, wearing a mask has become a political issue. But the fact is that science has proven that wearing masks can really help reduce the transmission rate of COVID-19. It is incredibly ignorant and meaningless to show prejudices toward wearing masks.
Fourth, recognize the vulnerability of humankind. In the past 1,000 years, humans have always felt that they can control or even transform nature, but COVID-19 has exposed the insignificance and fragility of human beings. It is urgent to change our mindset and current way of life and production, and to show respect toward nature.
Viruses know no borders and are the common enemy of all mankind. Humans must overcome disputes and unite together in order to overcome the challenges brought about by the novel coronavirus epidemic.
By Yang Chen
Department of History, Shanghai University
Yang Chen is Assistant Professor in the Department of History of Shanghai University’s College of Liberal Arts and Executive Director of the Center for Turkish Studies at Shanghai University. He has published two books about Turkey, and published several papers in the World Religious Culture, West Asia and Africa, Arab World Research, China Social Science Today and other journals. His main areas of research are Middle East Studies and Turkish Studies.