Wuhan: From inexistence to stardom

Wuhan: From inexistence to stardom

The average western knows very little about China. At best we view them through the lenses of stereotypes and clichés.

Most of us know, through our school books, about Beijing, Shanghai, the Yang Tzé, the Great Wall of China,  its immense population, that they live under a dictatorship, that they are fierce traders and a military power to be reckoned with, about to take the world center stage as the main superpower… Pushing it a bit, some of us also know about Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution led by his wicked wife, the terracotta army… Besides this, very few of us are even able to identify their president, let alone say his name.

The country remains shrouded by a veil of mystery which inspires fear and respect, contempt and admiration, but above all, wariness. Even those feelings are kind of mixed up in just one undefinable sentiment where, I am convinced, mistrust prevails.

It comes as no surprise, therefore, that most of us heard about the existence of a Chinese province named Wuhan, for the first time, in December 2019, when the media started reporting on this virus whose name, none or very few of us retained then, so remote and out of reach did it seem to be. Little did we know that, in a little more than a month later, both the virus and the name of that remote province would take our media by a storm, cause death by the thousands, forcing milions into an almost worldwide lockdown for months, bring the entire world to a standstill, the markets to their knees, put millions on the dole and cast a vast shadow over future employment prospects and the threat of widespread famine among an ever growing world population.  

The world economy, like all those caught by the virus, will be in dire need of intense care and respiratory devices if it is to survive the sequelae of this crisis.

From China to Italy, Spain, UK, Belgium, France, Germany, US, Egypt, Brazil a.s.o, the number of those left bereaving for the loss of their loved ones is just unbearable.  Each one of us has become a potential target and live in fear of being the next victim or see one of our loved ones fall prey to the invisible and yet treacherous killer virus.

Confined at home for the last 45 days, we now know that this predicament is not about to end anytime soon and those governments who dare ending it too soon, do it at their own expenses and of the world as the virus does not recognize borders.

Working indefatigably on finding a vaccine capable of subduing the Covid 19, scholars and scientists tell us that this will take at least another year. In other terms, this means that life will not resume its ‘natural’ course, the one we have been accustomed to and taken for granted, in the foreseeable future. We all feel a bit cheated of our certainties having been led to believe that such mishaps were a thing of forgotten and darker age, of a time when science and technology were almost non-existent. Who would have even dreamt of such a scenario, only 50 days ago?

Ghost towns where offices and shops - with the exception of supermarkets and pharmacies - have been closed for over a month now, enterprises unable to produce, international trade halted, flights cancelled, empty hotels… sloping markets, have led to an unprecedented crisis that will undoubtedly, cause a unique recession. Stock markets have been plummeting dangerously since the inception of the spread of the virus, taking in its unforgiving tides, life savings, pension funds and investments of too many people. What will the world of post Covid, hold for us? What other sacrifices will be asked of each and every one? How will the millions left unemployed and the elderly survive?

The world has lived many horrific catastrophes in the past, as is the case for the relatively recent two world wars, where the horrendous death toll of millions does not begin to compare with the number of casualties caused by COVID 19, hopefully. But if they caused enormous hardships, in economic terms, the brunt of those were taken by Europe, including Russia, which saw most of their infrastructures reduced to rubble and ashes by the continuous bombardments and burnt lands techniques of the war.

Economically speaking, the US, which had adopted an isolationist policy, continued to produce and was able, at the end of the war, to help Europe in its rebuilding efforts through the Marshall Plan.  Only, this time, we are all tarred by the same brush. No one is spared by this pandemic.

So, what next? Will there be a complete change of paradigm?  Will the countries be able and willing to work together to bail us all out of this calamity, or will this bring back the old isolationist and protectionist temptations? Or will a third possibility, where globalism will co-exist with the necessity of following nature's cycle, change consumption and behaviour paterns?  This also begs the question as to where will the developing and least developed countries, stand in this new economic environment and who will reach out and how?

These are many questions that only the future will tell, for certain,  how the world was able to survive this crisis. In an egotistical isolation or together, hand in hand,  in solidarity? Renewed values, where health, education and environment will prevail over money and markets or the opposite?  What teachings will we, collective and individually, take out of this first deadly warning? A more humble approach to life, on how we relate to each other, by placing the others at the centre of our existence, with a renewed deference for nature and environment, or, on the contrary, will this tempt some to burn the candles by both ends faster than before?  Again, only the future will tell but, by and large, men have proven to have a very short memory. I for one, want to remain positive and hopeful.

One thing is sure, Wuhan is not a name we will forget any time soon.