PositiveFinancial Times (UK)Fang’s simple account of what she saw, heard and felt serves to distil and amplify the trauma of a city in crisis. The collection of 60 entries, mostly written before the rest of the world had woken up to the threat of Covid-19, is also a painful reminder that the risks of contagion were clear in China, even as they were ignored in western capitals ... At times, Fang sounds very little like a fierce government critic. Many entries begin with a description of the weather and she is greatly concerned about her daughter’s eating habits ... Fang taps into a rich tradition of Chinese intellectuals who seize upon national calamity to push for social and political progress. Her work will be a lasting testament to the danger of Chinese officials believing their own propaganda ... Her focus on the everyday makes some parts of Wuhan Diary feel a world away from a headline-grabbing global pandemic. An international audience may at times need to read the footnotes to grasp what is going on. It is, after all, a diary by a Chinese writer for a Chinese audience. Jokes about pork prices are hard to translate.
