Christopher Revon Photography and Film - Digital Media Producer/Content Creator

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Coronavirus - Based on My Conversation with My Friends in China and WeChat Postings

I lived in Hong Kong when there were protests almost every day and everyone thought it was a war zone over there. No, it wasn't. Everyone was still working everyday and doing everything normally (watching movies, eating at restaurants, going shopping, etc) but everyone outside of Hong Kong thought life over there was hard and dangerous yet it wasn't. As for the coronavirus situation, I have been keeping in touch with my friends, both Chinese and foreign friends in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Chongqing and other parts of China. There is no genocide going on like what some people are posting on the internet. They are just staying inside their homes and only one person is allowed to go out to go shopping for food and necessities every two days. Everyone has a QR code, so they can get monitored if they are sick or break the rules of being quarantined in their own homes. (If this happens in another country, I am sure some people would get bored and escape being quarantined) And some of them do try to escape from being quarantined over there. That's the reason sometimes the police have to force them to be quarantined. Just like in any other countries, there are people who would try to break the rules even at the expense of other people. I am sure if this happens in another country. There will probably be a riot, and people will probably loot the supermarkets and other stores. But in China, there have been no riots. Everyone falls in line for hours just for face masks, toilet paper, and other necessities. At the same time, with a very big population, expect to have a shortage of medical supplies and spaces and rooms for patients in the hospitals. I am sure if this happens in a country that is way too poor and with not enough resources, I don't think that country will do better. And the doctors, nurses and other medical personnels are also risking their lives with not enough medical supplies such as masks, gloves and protective gear and have to work 21 hours with three hours of sleep since there is not enough manpower to handle the enormous number of patients. So we should at least focus on this rather than dwell on the negative stuff spreading on the internet. This is my own analysis based on the news inside China which I have access to through friends and my Chinese apps and also the news outside of China. I also look at the postings of the thousands of WeChat and Wiebo friends I have so I have more of an overview of what's going on over there than just the news you hear from the Western news outlets. Right now, maybe you don't like the government of China, but this is not about the government. This is about the people and the land. What they need right now is understanding. You all need to have empathy which I think most people lack. I don't know if you've heard of MERS, bird flu, swine flu, ebola, the plague and the Spanish flu which originated from other countries. Consider how other countries dealt with it. For instance, the Ebola virus was so lethal, they had to burn the dead bodies right away despite the African traditional way of burying their dead. In a situation like this, what's normally done has to be broken. Now I am now considering to go back there to document the life over there during this situation and at the same time, try to help out. I feel obligated to do something after seeing all the racism, the rumors, the negative stuff being spread around instead of helping out by donating some medical supplies or just showing the positive things which are happening over there despite this situation.