Voice of America (VOA) reported a story of a young man in Wuhan, in his twenties, with the pseudonym “Tulong,” who decided not to remain silent in front the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) propaganda and thought control, but to speak out for the people who died from the coronavirus.
“I know how sinister this regime is,” Tulong said, “but before, I just told myself not to look at these things.”
His dream was to be a news reporter. He studied at the top journalism department in China, but soon he found that his dream would never come true.
“My school is the place where they train people to control public opinion. More than once, I heard my teachers’ brag about how they controlled public opinion.”
After the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, Tulong said that he might have been infected with the virus and even been cremated had he not broken the firewall blockade to visit websites outside of China and not heard the truth from friends overseas.
“When they drove the ‘low-end’ people out of Beijing, I told myself that I was not a low-end person and would not be cleaned out (see Chinascope’s report: Beijing Official: Take Real, Rough, and Quick Action to Demolish Buildings). When they set up a “reform” campus in Xinjiang, I thought I was not a Uyghur and didn’t have a religion, so I would not be put in the camp; I am sympathetic to Hong Kong people, but I felt that I wouldn’t go to the streets to protest, so still it had nothing to do with me. This time, it happened in my hometown. Many people around me were infected and some had passed away, so I could not tolerate it anymore.”
“Most of the Chinese, including myself, are not innocent because we have condoned (the CCP) for doing evil, and many have even done evil together with the CCP.”
A friend once told him that, to live in China, a person has to be able to do at least one of two things and both things would be better. First, let go of one’s own rationality; and second, let go of one’s conscience.
However, Tulong felt that he couldn’t do either.
“I survived in the epidemic,” Tulong told the VOA, “I am lucky. However, as a survivor from Wuhan, I have a responsibility to speak out, for the rest of my life, for the people who died.”
Related postings on Chinascope:
- Public Opinion: People Creatively Protested Government’s “Be Grateful” Education
- Leadership: The CCP Was Forced to Reverse the “Be Grateful to the CCP” Education
- Public Opinion: People Unsatisfied for Government Giving Dr. Li Wenliang an “Advanced Individual” Title
- Public Opinion: Intellectuals in China Started Raising Their “Five Demands”
- Public Opinion: Outpouring of Grief and Anger upon Death of Chinese Doctor Who Warned Others About Coronavirus
- Beijing Official: Take Real, Rough, and Quick Action to Demolish Buildings
Excerpt in Chinese:
在武汉出生长大的中国90后屠龙一度认为，只要他不发表任何政治敏感言论，不做任何出格的事，按照当局者的意愿做个顺民，像周围很多人一样，当个“精致的利己主义者”，他的人生就会一路向上。
一场冠状病毒疫情彻底改变了这个想法。屠龙说，他不想再做“沉默的大多数”。
“我知道这个政府有多么混蛋，” 他说，“我以前只是跟自己说不要去在意一些事情。”
屠龙是化名，尽管他同意接受美国之音的访问，但他依然担心自己的人身安全。
16岁时，他意识到，要在中国生存下去，他必须作出妥协，保护自己，不去以卵击石。
屠龙的梦想是当一名记者，他努力学习，考上了全中国顶尖的新闻专业， 但他很快发现这个梦想在中国无法实现。
“我的学校就是他们专门培养控制舆情的学校”，他回忆说。“我不止一次地听到我们老师沾沾自喜地告诉我们，他们是如何控制舆情的。”
冠状病毒肺炎的爆发打破了这一切。屠龙说，要不是自己会翻墙，要不是一些海外的朋友告诉他真相，此刻说不定他已经进了焚尸炉。
封城的日子里，屠龙反思了很多：
“他们清理北京低端人口的时候，我跟自己说，我很努力，我不是低端人口，我不会被清理；他们在新疆搞劳改营的时候，我想我也不是少数民族，我也没有宗教信仰，我也不会被清理；我很同情香港人的遭遇，但我觉得我也不会去上街，不会抗议，所以也跟我没关系。这一次事情发生在我的家乡，我周边已经有很多人得了病，也有去世的，所以我没有办法再忍受下去了。”
屠龙说，和李泽华一样，他也不愿再沉默下去。
“这件事情被瞒报了整整一个多月，”他说。“事情发展到今天，不仅没有人出来给武汉人道歉，他们还告诉我们要去仇恨美国，我们应该去仇恨日本，我们应该去仇恨韩国，我们应该去仇恨台湾，我们应该去仇恨《华尔街日报》，没有人出来为这件事情买单。我们‘伟大的’市长周先旺前几天还被中央公开表扬了。
到现在还有那么多人没有治愈，我们已经把它当成喜事了。《大国战“疫”》都已经出版了。太荒唐了。”
“绝大多数中国人，包括我自己，并不无辜。因为我们纵容了他们作恶，当然还有更多人是跟他们一起做恶， ”他说。
他又说：“现在中国弥漫着一种不寻常的乐观气息，我看到报道说，全世界欠中国一个道歉，甚至说什么没有这次新冠肺炎，我都不知道中国这么牛。现在，武汉还在牺牲，还在受苦， 他们还跑出来说，哎呀，你看现在国外做得多么不好，就是我们中国做得特别好。非常可怕！”
之前曾有朋友对他说：想要在中国生活下去，有两点你要做到其一，两个都做到是最好的——第一，丢掉自己的理智；第二，丢掉自己的良心。
屠龙觉得，这两样，他都做不到。
他对美国之音说：“这次事件我熬过去了，我幸运；熬不过去也是一种解脱，但是只要我熬过去了这件事情，作为武汉事件的幸存者，我这辈子有义务为死去的人发声。 ”
Source: Voice of America, March 12, 2020
https://www.voachinese.com/a/coming-of-age-during-an-epidemic-202020312/5325562.html