As the 2019-nCoV coronavirus outbreak continues, anger among Chinese citizens is mounting. This growing discontent mainly targets those responsible for managing the epidemic at the local level on social networks.
The latest assessment of the Wuhan coronavirus epidemic reports nearly 450 deaths for more than 20,000 confirmed cases. Since the beginning of the measures taken by the authorities, Chinese propaganda has been in full swing. images and other messages intended to reassure are regularly broadcast. The goal? Maintain the confidence of the people and avoid outbursts of panic.
However, as the daily Les Échos explains in an article from February 3, 2020, the population is starting to boil. This is especially the case in the few cities placed in quarantine, including Wuhan. More than 20 million people are confined to their homes while the Chinese New Year holidays have been extended by two weeks. Many citizens express their anger on social networks as the epidemic of the new coronavirus turns out to be larger than that of SARS from 2003.
Primarily targeted, the Wuhan government is accused of being responsible for the spread of the virus. On the front line, city mayor Zhou Xiangwang allegedly quickly hid information and would have ensured that the situation was under control. These accusations were first made in an anonymous article read over 100,000 times on WeChat. Another example is Dr Li Wenliang, based in Wuhan. The latter posted an article on Weibo explaining that he had received pressure from the police at the start of the epidemic . His fault " ? Notifying colleagues that seven patients may have the SARS coronavirus.
In addition, some images also caused outrage. With the severe shortage of protective masks, only medical personnel are officially guaranteed to be supplied. However, members of the Wuhan government were surprised wearing masks originally intended for hospitals.
Let's also mention the fact that anger manages to express itself on social networks whereas usually, censorship is quite exemplary in China. It may well be that the Communist Party ruling the country is allowing these "outbursts" of opinion. Indeed, this anger is mainly directed towards the executive at the local level and does not question the legitimacy of the party at the national level.
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