By Celia Farber
Secret videos reveal how people are coping in Wuhan during the lockdown
Start with the fact that this is a hermetically sealed society. Then look for information leaks from the streets of Wuhan and other quarantined cities through citizen journalist social media accounts. In China, citizen journalists take on a near sacred role. They risk their lives to film and send out clips to the world, and they do so at a faster rate than Communist Party officials can censor or arrest them.
I found two Twitter citizen journalist accounts that have kept me spellbound for the last several days, both fake names of course: Harry Chen PhD and China Nonghua News. Both of these Tweeters are brilliant.
Their montage of clips, and satirical commentary speak for themselves.
We get a glimpse of the dystopian bleakness of China during this unfathomable crackdown: Stories of horror and believe it or not, stories of humor. Everything from people being arrested and beaten on the streets, their doors smashed down, to people dancing in quarantine halls, and making corona virus shaped dumplings, and bat cookies. The humor is the big surprise. The way life goes on. People still find ways to live as humans, and be as free as they can, while wrapped to the gills in plastic, trapped in their apartments, separated from their families and pets, and hunted down on the streets. I’m not after the political/scientific story in this piece-- I’m after the human story.
This article is a curated exhibit—a way to visit and see China during what we are told is a catastrophic pandemic (and may very well be.)
All we know for sure is that the Chinese regime has cracked down on its people, quarantining tens of millions, and imposing post-futurist anti-skin contact laws, which are so extreme and phobic, the unintended effect is laughter.
"China Nonghua" told me in a PM: “I am not journalist. I am comedian.”
He didn't need to; I can't remember the last time I laughed like that.
The exquisite satire springs from the cartoonish mentality of the Chinese Communist Party, (CCP) as it plays out around this horror, this illness that is now a dystopian hell from top to bottom. I don't think death is "funny" or suffering. But I think it's a master stroke to make people laugh when their government and the entire world is trying almost literally to scare them to death.
When we submit to mass media induced fear campaigns, we lose our fundamental humanity. “I love life,” China Nonghua told me.
“I want make people laugh, also show stupid side CCP, and culture damage by CCP. Chinese people not bad people, but CCP damage Chinese culture. Satire is a weapon.”
I checked back with him to make sure he felt safe allowing me to print his comments, which he agreed to, though he had to think about it for 24 hours. Asked if he thought the CCP was vastly understating the death count, he wrote “Yes.” When asked why he thinks that, he replied: “Very simple, if not disaster, would not freeze economy.”
He told me there are quarantine camps, for which the propaganda word is “hospital.” He said many people are hiding—in their apartments, windows blacked out, in their cars, anywhere. Then a shocking line: “Hide corona virus is death penalty.”
I asked if citizen journalism was alive and well, and he replied: “No. Dead and not well.”
The other Chinese twitter luminary I happened upon, who is no longer in the country but has sources who send him material, was “Harry Chen PhD.”
We had a lengthy exchange on PM, which he said I could publish, and you can read it immediately preceding this introduction. Between the content of the two of them, you will see the real China, beneath the façade that is always projected to us.
I urge you to watch the clips, with all preconceptions set aside, and remember what you see. These accounts could be shut down any time, and one of them, Chen’s, has been many times.
Take the time to also read the written commentary preceding each one. The genius of it, in both accounts, is the raw footage framed in by narrators who can both mock the CCP, and allow us to see both how they are running the crackdown, and at the same time, expose the deeper insanity of the entire system by which our own homegrown communists are so enamored.
Really millennials? You want communism? You want Bernie?
Be careful what you wish for.
One thing both of my new Twitter friends stressed is how stupid the CCP actually is. I was glad to hear this. It bodes well for a free China in our lifetimes. And who knows, maybe this Corona Situation will wind up being the ironic catalyst for it. Chen suggested that the CCP’s evil plan was to destabilize the West with something cooked up in Wuhan’s level 4 lab. Instead, China has not only destabilized but paralyzed itself. If the economic collapse can lead to the collapse of the world’s second communist menace, then perhaps there is cause for hope after all.
Without further ado, here is our Corona Situation Mystery Tour.
First, an interview with Dr. Harry Chen:
CF (Celia Farber): Dr. Chen, I have become fascinated by your tweets. Are you safe to communicate, on or off the record, about the Corona situation in China?
HC: I’m not an expert. I just have access to banned content and have friends across China. I’ve always had access to content, just now people seem to care.
CF: Is it ok if I quote your tweets in an article?
HC: They are posted publicly, so I suppose anyone can quote them, and I suppose the only thing that matters if how the quote is used. My name is a spoof. My picture is pixilated. But…I can say a few things I can’t tweet. There are outbreaks in places that aren’t being reported. [Off the record section redacted.] It will spread to Asian countries, corrupt ones first.
CF: Corona viruses through the decades are typically not very deadly.
HC: Chinese hospitals are not good. Mainland China. Wuhan is a dump. I’ve been 4 times. I would not want to get sick there.
CF: Some, mostly alternative media, here, are reporting on the fact that there is a level 4 lab in Wuhan, and speculating that it was the result of a biological weapon that got out. I am still unclear what “it” is. A sudden onset pneumonia. Do you think it has biowarfare elements?
HC: Maybe you don’t understand Chinese culture. The weakness in the lab was always the cleaning staff.
CF: You’re kidding.
HC: Nope.
CF: So we think…something got out?
HC: Throw away the animal. But it could be sold…and it looks fine.
CF: Not understanding. Animals?
HC: They test viruses on animals. They also pay top dollar for oddities. Quacks can claim preparing this a certain way from an ancient text can heal from certain ailments.
CF: Is it true 1200 a day cremated?
HC: I have no idea how many are cremated every day. It’s impossible to say. I think if anything the Chinese government could do way more daily. But the entire country is shut down.
CF: Are they killing people who are “suspect?”
HC: How to know what happens behind the curtains. I would fear for my life if I didn’t know how to hide.
CF: I hear people are hiding in their homes. This is so horrific. Poor people.
HC: Black out windows too. The problem is the integration of the apps. Everything is connected, WeChat, Meituan, Alipay, location, etc. It’s all malware. You make one purchase to have food delivered and you are caught. Step outside, the cameras have you, and locate the signal on your phone…even tracking through radio triangulation. How many people are in China?
CF: 1.4 billion?
HC: How much land is farmed? Probably more. North America is the breadbox. How long could people there last without roads or a supply chain?
CF: Few days.
HC: Maybe. Before Xi had to keep the jobs coming. Now he has to keep meals coming. My mother in law still loves him though. Most elders still do. The youth are educated.
CF: If a person shows symptoms, do they get sent to quarantine camps? Or just home quarantine?
HC: Ha. Better to keep it a secret.
CF: Another Chinese source just told me about the quarantine camps. I’m afraid they will start slaughtering people. [The way they slaughtered millions of animals during H1N1, SARS, and other pandemic scares.]
HC: I could probably home medicate you in North America, and exercise precautions to avoid getting sick in my own home. I could even ask my Google assistant about anything I don’t know about and she would answer. Chinese are uneducated. They cannot do these things. Also, there is little access to proper medical supplied and information. So huge slaughter camps? Seems unlikely…giant furnaces…burning 24/7 also seems unlikely…sick people dying in their homes and secretly cleaned up to report low stats however seems likely.
CF: OK.
HC: Hospitals will and have rejected people. People have been locked in. And this is a virus with Chinese characteristics after all. The new era must be realized…so a few trouble makers have been picked up. But hey, it’s the virus.
CF: Do you have any idea what they would have been tinkering with in the Wuhan lab? Or why?
HC: Sure. To destabilize America’s economy.
CF: Ah. That makes sense. By an attack in the American people?
HC: Number 2 always wants to be number 1. And the oceans separated them. Trojans make terrible friends.
CF: Are they killing people’s dogs, in villages?
HC: Yes. Only in isolated back water places.
CF: I saw one video. Maybe it was yours. Awful.
HC: I couldn’t finish it.
CF: Neither could I. Do you mean to tell me their plan was to attack the US with this virus but it backfired and got out?
HC: There are a few here that think so.
CF: In that case, why did they share the genome?
HC: I don’t know. I’m not an expert. But China was the first to say the term Novel Corona Virus. Well before it was proven.
CF: Yes. The test is a PCR test. Not reliable.
HC: They had a response team for the first few cases with today’s protocol before the virus was identified.
CF: Yes, I have been looking for the genesis of this. How exactly it began and how they “knew” it was a Corona virus.
HC: They mapped the genome in record time too. The speed was noted. And they are well on their way to a vaccine I am told. Made in China 2025 medical technology is still on the table. China, the savior of the world.
CF: At the same time, most survive.
HC: I’m not sure about the mortality rate. Chinese hospitals are backward.
CF: It’s not that deadly. In the literature, many people exposed don’t even get sick. Hard to figure. How are they backward?
HC: Quack doctors. TMC. Rich people pay for Western doctors. Party members have private hospitals.
CF: Americans are very naïve about communism. Half the country wants us to be a communist country.
HC: Yep, you are infiltrated…not as bad as Canada. Worse than Nixon’s time.
CF: Why goes the government suddenly grab people and throw them into vans? This may be a stupid question but is the government brutal, and helpful?
HC: If you have money life is good. If you don’t then its bad. They are using the virus as a smokescreen.
CF: That’s what I thought? For what?
HC: The absentee government did a bad job and people spoke out and now the government is tightening its grip (something Xi said Gorbachev didn’t do well enough)…or a bunch of people are breaking the law and the cops are all from America. This is my moment to show everyone that this is China. It’s not what they think and they have all been fooled.
CF: What did they think China was?
HC: Western.
CF: We are hearing that 400 million are quarantined.
HC: From my contacts in China the number is higher. I can’t say the number. XI is a GoT fan, says different numbers to top officials to see what leaks.
CF: What is a “GoT fan?”
HC: Game of thrones. Xi has made note that he is a huge fan and he has even mimicked some of the strategies. 400 million is like 16-18 cities.
In a later exchange, out of the blue, Mr. Chen wrote: “Also, Andrew Yang is dangerous. I don’t know if he is still in the running.”
I told him he wasn’t.
CF: Might this have had anything to do with quashing the Hong Kong protests?
HC: I doubt they were trying to silence the HK protests. I have insider information on the HK situation. In other words, they don’t need a virus to sort it out. I know for a fact they have leadership. I also know for a fact they are losing the fight because of poor strategy. And I know for a fact the central government has a plan in place. Biding its time while the people of HK scramble to be heard.
CF: I keep returning to the fact that corona viruses traditionally are not all that infectious or deadly.
HC: The Chinese are obviously hiding something by disinfecting the streets.
CF: When you say the entire country is shut down, can you be more specific?
HC: Entire country means major economic hubs. Welding, dirt, or other barriers are done region to region with whatever tools or materials they have. If you are an outsider, you cannot come in. If you are an insider, you cannot go out. In other words the local government have no idea what they are doing and there is no communication system within.
CF: That is mysterious.
HC: It’s not if you understand China. The government are farmers.
CF: Sometimes I wish our government were farmers.
HC: I think farmers between there and here are different.
The tweets tell the rest of the story:
Celia Farber is s a contributor to UncoverDC and The Epoch Times, and has in the past written for Harper’s, Esquire, Rolling Stone and more. Having been gravely injured in legacy media, she never wants to go back. She is the recipient of the Semmelweis International Society Clean Hands Award For Investigative Journalism, the author of “Serious Adverse Events: An Uncensored History of AIDS”. She is also the editor of The Truth Barrier, an investigative and literary website.
