"I feel more positive and confident in China, because the Chinese government has adopted very strict prevention and control measures, so we can just wait." This is the feeling of The Frenchman Rea Peleko, who stayed in Shanghai and did not return home. She also lamented: "It is rare to see the streets of Shanghai so quiet. ”
In the ward of Wuhan Huoshenshan Hospital, inspirational cartoons warm up the original plain and deserted corridors, and also convey the determination and courage of the white-clad soldiers to defeat the epidemic. (Source: China News Service)
Calm and self-assured, the French remained in China
People's Daily reported that during the new crown epidemic, most of the French who settled in Wuhan have withdrawn, but some French people still choose to stay in China, and the French media interviewed them, thinking that they were in a difficult situation, but got the opposite answer. One Frenchman said: "There is no panic here that we imagined. On the contrary, China's health and epidemic prevention measures are very strict, and everyone's mental state is also good. As Leia, who stayed in Shanghai, said, most of her French friends returned to China for a holiday during the Spring Festival in China, and she chose to stay, although she had to face the development of the epidemic, she was not panicked and worried.
These French people living in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong are more calm because they are familiar with China's social environment. Pierre Louis Marshall, a creative director based in Shanghai, humorously pointed out: "Although China's economy has been suspended due to the epidemic, the seemingly panicked emotions are all from foreign media, and the old French friend who has been missing for more than five years has jumped out and asked me, 'Are you okay?'" Pierre believes: "The foreign media has created a lot of panic, but the actual situation in China is not as they say, the new crown virus 2019-nCoV is first and foremost a 'flu virus'." ”
French media debunked social media videos
After the outbreak of the epidemic in China, the French media quickly realized the panic of the French people, and while tracking the latest developments of the new crown epidemic in China, they also actively dispelled rumors. In early February, France's 24 television station invited analysts to debunk the video of "Chinese girls eating bats" frantically reproduced by overseas social media. By analyzing the background details of the video content, the expert pointed out that this is a special tourism project in a Southeast Asian country, not in China. Some French media also quoted the medical journal "Lancet" scientific research article, pointing out that the Wuhan Huanan Seafood Market may not be the birthplace of the epidemic.
Since the emergence of three confirmed cases of new crown in France, there has indeed been a "Asian panic" in French society. In some neighborhoods of Paris, Asian faces have the potential to provoke irreverent accusations from passers-by. On Twitter, fellow Asians began using "I am not a virus" slogan to resist racial discrimination by the French. The French media have also stepped forward to support the Asian community, and a cartoon popular in the French media and social networks aptly expresses ridicule for the excessive panic of the French. The picture exaggeratedly depicts a set of comparisons: the number of people who die of influenza in France every year is as high as tens of thousands, but there are still many French people who think that the vaccine is not credible and insist on not fighting, while the new crown epidemic in France has 0 deaths, and the French people are anxious to jump to their feet, saying that the "end of the world" is coming.
"China has adopted effective epidemic prevention measures"
Asked by the French media how he views the Chinese government's actions during the outbreak, Jean-Louis Rocca, a China expert at the Centre for International Relations studies at Sciences Po, said: "Compared with SARS in 2003, the Chinese government's response is much faster and more effective. Although the response of local governments was not timely enough in the early days of the new crown epidemic, this situation should also be looked at separately. Citing Europe as an example, Rocca points out that "Europe does not yet have experience in dealing with such a more dangerous and fast-spreading infectious disease, which requires a very rapid response from the government." What if the COVID-19 pandemic were to occur in France and Germany? If you think about Chernobyl, or the recent floods in Rouen, France, we'll see that similar problems are prevalent in public health systems around the world, and it often takes time for governments to take action. ”
The Chinese government's concentrated mobilization of resources has indeed shocked the French, the French media has been tracking the construction of Vulcan Mountain and Leishenshan Hospital, the video of "building a hospital in ten days" on French social media has been continuously reprinted, French netizens are curious about the construction of the hospital, and the French media have also explained the mythological symbolism of "Vulcan Mountain" and "Leishen Mountain", looking forward to bringing hope to people in the epidemic.
On 14 February, French Health Minister Agnès Bouzin gave an interview to Radio France about the current situation of COVID-19 in France. She affirmed the approach adopted by the Chinese government in the prevention and control of the epidemic, noting: "The Chinese government's means of preventing the further spread of the new crown epidemic are very strict, which is the only effective way in my opinion, that is, to isolate and trace the path of suspicious patients, to isolate people who have been in contact with suspicious patients." ”