People Before Profits

来源 :Beijing Review | 被引量 : 0次 | 上传用户:hanwenjun07
下载到本地 , 更方便阅读
声明 : 本文档内容版权归属内容提供方 , 如果您对本文有版权争议 , 可与客服联系进行内容授权或下架
论文部分内容阅读


A customer selects vegetables at a supermarket in Chongqing, southwest China, on February 5

  I was in Thailand during the Lunar New Year holiday when the news of the spread of the novel coronavirus in China really started heating up. I still had another week of travel before heading home to Beijing on February 1, and the rising number of text messages and calls from family and friends was really starting to make me nervous.
  Even though several Chinese friends and colleagues stayed in steady contact with me, keeping me up to date on developments, the headlines about the virus’ spread and ensuing panic were taking their toll on me. By the time I was ready to leave for Beijing, I was sure it was a big mistake.
  My airline posted mixed messages about whether I would be quarantined, detained or refused boarding. I arrived at the airport expecting the worst, but was able to board my flight and make it to Beijing with no problems, only being stopped to have my temperature taken. Upon arrival in China’s capital, medical personnel boarded and inspected the plane before we were let off.
  With hardly any cars on the road, I got to centrally located Xicheng District in record time. At the gate of my apartment complex, two people who identified themselves as community workers asked me to sign in and specify where I had been, particularly if I had been to Wuhan, Hubei Province in central China, where the virus first appeared, which I had not. They took my temperature, asked me how I felt and told me to let them know if I needed anything. I appreciated the concern.
  I already knew the Chinese Government had asked people to stay home, avoid going out unless necessary, wear a face mask while out and wash hands regularly. Without knowing what to expect, I ventured out to the supermarket, where the usual Saturday bustle was eerily absent.
  There was plenty of fresh produce and meat, as well as other foodstuffs and paper goods. Nothing was in short supply and prices were about the same as always. Chinese people at the store were friendly and orderly; there was no mad rush to horde. It was then that I started to relax. All the news I had heard while out of the country was proving to be false.
  The government had extended the Spring Festival holiday and urged all companies that could to have their employees work from home. That included me, so I settled into a routine of working, watching the news, cooking, eating, napping, exercising and staying in touch with folks.   I went out every couple of days to get supplies and every time, there were more people on the street, not normal levels by any stretch, but more. Neighbors greeted me and asked me how I was doing, and an unexpected snowfall made Beijing especially beautiful.
  While I was away, China had begun construction on two hospitals in Wuhan which were finished the week I returned. How was this even possible? President Xi Jinping had said the priority was people’s life and wellbeing, and I was beginning to see it. China is able to pull the country’s resources together to focus on a problem because socialism with Chinese characteristics can work miracles.
  For example, a large portion of medical expenses is being waived as an encouragement for people to seek treatment. As of February 6, about $9.5 billion had been allocated for epidemic prevention and control. The production of face masks and other protective medical supplies is being streamlined and carried out around the clock.
  Private and public hospitals, hotels and other places in Hubei are being used to quarantine and treat infected patients. The dispatch of medical workers from all parts of China is being well-coordinated.
  The government has even waived payments on mortgages and loans while people are not working. It prohibited airlines and railways from charging customers fees for changes and cancellations and announced severe punishment for anyone caught price gouging or hording.
  I lived in the U.S. through the AIDS pandemic in the 1980s. The Ronald Reagan administration ignored the crisis for years and stigmatized the victims of the deadly disease instead of helping them. Once pharmaceuticals made medications available years later, their costs still condemned most to death. The stampede toward profi ts painted a tragic picture.
  In New York City, where I lived, major snowstorms easily pushed gas and food prices up to exorbitant levels. Every winter, people died in the cold because they could not afford to pay for heat, while thousands, mostly the sick and elderly, died from the common fl u.
  But in China, the effective, swift and compassionate battle against the virus has served as a calming balm for me. I have readily put my trust in the Chinese Government knowing that it is putting people before profi ts.
其他文献
The Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games booth at the 2019 World Winter Sports (Beijing) Expo on October 17  Rovaniemi, a city in Finland located at the Arctic Circle, sent its most famous
期刊
Delegates from China and Japan attend the 15th Beijing-Tokyo Forum in Beijing on October 26  Two years after the normalization of bilateral ties, China and Japan signed an agreement on civil aviation
期刊
Before January, Lu Sa, a professor at China Jiliang University in Zhejiang Province in east China, had never heard of Zeng Heqiong, who lives and works in central China. But the novel coronavirus outb
期刊
When many Beijing residents bid farewell to the city before the Spring Festival, which fell on January 25 this year, to rush home in other regions for a family reunion holiday, it marked the start of
期刊
CHINESE SPACECRAFT DESIGNER IN HALL OF FAME  Qi Faren, chief designer of China’s Shenzhou spacecraft, was inducted into the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) Hall of Fame in 2019, an honor
期刊
Lang Ping (left), head coach of the Chinese women’s national volleyball team, and other team members participate in the parade for the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of Chin
期刊
Last year, when the organizers of the China International Import Expo (CIIE) unveiled the mascot of the expo, a giant panda looking dapper with a stylish scarf draped round its neck, people agreed tha
期刊
Located right in the middle of downtown Beijing, Beijing Shichahai Sports School is quite unassuming from the outside amid bustling bars as well as imperial residences swarming with tourists. If not f
期刊
The Third 2019 APEC Senior Offi cials’ Meeting is held in Puerto Varas, Chile, on August 29  Though host Chile announced in late October that the 27th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, to have been held
期刊
You could have heard my pulsating heart from a mile away when I first heard of this market. No, not a wet market, nor a supermarket, nor a stock market. It’s an everything-except-for-food market. And
期刊