This is @mare_porter and me in the streets of Zhengzhou yesterday. We were surrounded by an angry crowd shouting things like this is China, get out of China! I tried to de-escalate by “translating” the crowd’s message (Mathias is actually fluent in Chinese)
At one point an angry man pulled out a phone w a blurry screenshot of another white man and yelled “this is him! It’s him!” I told him no, that’s just another white guy, please calm down
Later on we realized that was actually a screenshot of @robindbrant from the BBC, and that Weibo users had been calling for a manhunt to catch the “rumormongering foreigner.” They’d been photographing Mathias for days and posting shots online saying he must be the BBC
The black cap girl’s message was that foreign media are slandering China, Henan people are very united, recovery in Zhengzhou is fine and we should focus on reporting rescue efforts. She insisted we take the contact of a rescue team and go film them instead
Prior to this we had been chatting w people on a street where several huge holes and opened in the road. Shopkeepers were distressed about insufficient govt help to drain water from their underground stores, w all their goods still submerged after four days
There were many other ppl in Zhengzhou and the surrounding worse-hit areas who were open and even eager to talk about the destruction and difficulties they’re facing. But this crowd seemed really angry and eager just to tell the foreigners off (有人说“我们要捍卫中国”)
我也跟他们说了拜托您这并不是您在找的记者,而且大家这么激动会让他觉得中国人就是这样有点恐怖的感觉,那不是也造成负面的形象吗?我们是来报道真实灾情的
After we “translated” the crowd’s message about not smearing China they seemed to calm down. Black cap girl told them “this is our German friend, we should welcome him” and some people clapped. One guy even said “sorry.” We then quickly left. It was not a pleasant experience
We weren’t the only foreign reporters who encountered hostility in Zhengzhou this week:

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More from @aliceysu

22 Jul
On a train passing through Hebi, in badly flooded #Henan
If it seems slow for high-speed rail, that’s bc it is.. our usual 2.5 hr train from Beijing to Zhengzhou has been inching along for 12 hours now w stops and starts. But at least we are moving (for now) Image
The guy next to me is from Zhengzhou and can’t wait to see his wife and daughter. When the rains came on Tues his wife walked to bring the girl home from kindergarten. The water was at her ankles when she left and up to her thighs by the time she arrived
Read 5 tweets
21 Nov 20
In Gansu's "Little Mecca," minarets have been toppled, the call to prayer banned. Minorities shuttled into factory jobs have begun to forget their languages. Cadres enter conservative villages preaching a new faith: Love the Party first.

Our dispatch: latimes.com/world-nation/s…
I first visited Linxia 4 years ago for this story about the relative flourishing of Hui Islam bc of its ability to blend Islamic and Chinese identities. That seems to have changed, w authorities' new, "preemptive" restrictions on Hui Islam chinafile.com/features/separ…
The policies seem to fit w Xi's "stability"-focused approach to governance, always aiming to ensure ideological uniformity and root out threats before they exist. It also focuses on "从娃娃抓起" - starting w childhood - and forming the thoughts & loyalties of the next generation.
Read 4 tweets
13 Jun 20
Beijing has 6 new COVID cases, big deal bc they are local transmissions not imported. All have connections w Xinfadi mass produce meat & seafood market, which has been shut down. As of this morning 45 more ppl w close connections to Xinfadi have tested positive (no symptoms)
Authorities have sealed 11 communities around the market and closed nearby schools and kindergartens. ALSO! They found traces of covid on salmon cutting boards in the market. Major supermarkets citywide have disposed of their salmon overnight news.ynet.com/2020/06/13/265…
Beijing has collected 5000+ env samples from major markets and found traces of covid on 40 of them, all in Xinfadi. Testing of market workers also underway, 1 positive case in Haidian was a close contact of the market workers in Xinfadi m.weibo.cn/1644114654/451
Read 5 tweets
4 May 20
Fascinating 6-part Chinese strategy to win the global public opinion war, from this CASS article (h/t @judeblanchette): 1. Prepare for "attacks" from U.S. and other media by understanding how foreign media works cssn.cn/zk/wjyya/20200…
2. Establish a coordination mechanism for 24-hr monitoring & responding to US media and foreign public opinion. Involve govt media, private media, diplomats, enterprises & think tanks to coordinate quick and effective counter-attacks
3. Use supervision of public opinion to increase trust and reduce doubt. (V interesting: "Don't cover up, scapegoat, or show partiality in proven shortcomings.. some deficiencies in process of foreign aid and epidemic prevention should be reported to govt depts for improvement")
Read 6 tweets
3 Apr 20
We found so many fascinating contradictions and shocking nuggets in our deep dive into China's wildlife industry and why its new ban is not enough to stop future virus outbreaks. THREAD:
latimes.com/world-nation/s…
In 2003, Chinese authorities banned wildlife consumption. Tens of thousands of civets, suspected intermediate carrier of SARS virus, were killed. But 3 months later, the ban was lifted. By 2019, govt subsidies were helping thousands of farmers pivot into civet breeding (!)
Jiangxi report on govt help for civet breeders: “The cold winter wind was screaming, but Zhang Zhilin, a poor farmer in Wanan county had a ‘warm sun’ in his heart. The 33 civet cats he bred would come out for sale next year, bringing in $7,000 of income." forestry.gov.cn/main/72/201911…
Read 18 tweets
29 Jan 20
Read our latest #Wuhan #coronavirus stories: 1) China’s strong centralized control enables mass mobilization - 50m ppl on lockdown! - that would be unthinkable anywhere else. But that top-down grip is also what enabled this crisis in the first place latimes.com/world-nation/s…
2) On the ground, medical workers' loved ones weep as they send them into an epidemic that's killed more than 130 so far & infected ~6,000, more than doubling in just the last two days
latimes.com/world-nation/s…
Within Wuhan, residents struggle to find hospital beds for their sick family members. One 32 yr old woman's husband & parents are all sick, but they can't check for coronavirus bc the doctors have no test kits.
latimes.com/world-nation/s…
Read 17 tweets

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