I am really worried (as a foreigner living in Chongqing), seeing so many foreigners thinking of evacuating and leaving Chongqing and even less affected areas of the county. I guess in most cases, this city - this country - gave you a job, a second home and a future. Yet when shit happens, you guys forget all of that and just leave behind your Chinese friends and coworkers - who don't have the option of leaving.

Ever though about how that looks like from their perspective?

When all of this is over, are you just gonna come back and pretend nothing happened? Do you really think the same people you left behind will still respect you or consider you a friend? I understand tourists, students - but people, living and working here for years or even decades. No. There is no excuse. You guys are setting such a bad example.

I had a conversation with my father last night and he literally begged me to come home. But I already decided to stay. I broke his heart. Because Chongqing gave me so much, it's like a brother, a sister - how could I abandon her? China is bleeding - and leaving now sets a very bad example. I'll stay and help with whatever I can in my community to get through this difficult period of time. As any other person, no matter his nationality.

That being said I find it very disturbing that foreign media outlets are trying to use a national crisis as a pathway to make everything political, blaming the government, blaming the system, blaming blaming blaming. On the other side, even the WHO praised China for its unprecedented efforts to contain the crisis in the little time they’ve had. It is amazing how much disinformation is being spread on foreign social media - from people pretending to be in Wuhan with a Taiwanese accent, to video captured as “inside Wuhan Hospital” and you can clearly hear the cantonese voices in the background. More videos of people simply fainting on the street, something that happens every day everywhere in the world - but given to the media as “proof” that people are dying on the street. Twitter is full of videos labeled "Banned videos" - Have you actually checked how many of those "banned" videos are readily available on Chinese social media (Douyin/Weibo) published by the authorities themselves with an explanation as to what happened? Disinformation at its finest.

The foreign media just loves panic. Panic sells. Yet all of those contributing in sharing misinformation that never has been fact-checked never realized the backlash this could have on the society, in a time when unity and calmness is critical in order to contain the spread of the virus. Disinformation and rumors spread just as fast as the virus itself - infecting the minds even of those who are at the frontline fighting for the survival of the very same people spreading those rumors.

I am not at all downplaying the seriousness of the virus and surely - in a perfect world less mistakes would have been made in the beginning, however we are still human and this is an unprecedented event in terms of infection spread that has no analogy in modern history, even if comparing it to SARS and MERS. There is no magic manual outlining the steps in dealing with this sort of issue and it's easy to assign blame when you stand on the sidelines. But now is not the time for blame.

We are bombarded with alleged civil unrest, alleged shortage of food and supplies, alleged mistrust of the government. Yet the country, even citizens in Wuhan are now more united than ever. If that wasn’t the case we would see evidence on a daily basis, because - here comes the kicker - Wuhan residents have full internet access contrary to some articles that said that it has been cut. There are enough videos on Youtube of foreigners in Wuhan who will tell you the same - given the circumstances, everything is okay, there is no panic, plenty of food and supplies. So why doesn’t the Western media publish those videos? Why not publish the fact that over half of the foreigner population in Wuhan refused to board the evacuation planes, because they trust that the issue will be resolved soon or they simply feel safe enough - even in Wuhan?

Remember the video of the girl eating bat soup? That video wasn’t even shot in China! Yet it’s being used over and over again as if this girl actions speak for the rest of China. I’ve never seen someone eating bats in my 8 years living in China. But more importantly, did we blame people eating pork when the swine-flu hit the world a few years back? Did we make it a national, almost racist issue? If my memory serves me right, we didn’t. And we shouldn't.

There are so many more examples of videos and photos taken either out of context, or showing only the part that can be used as anti-Chinese propaganda. It's the equivalent of kicking someone in the face during a fight, when he is already unconscious lying on the street.

Home is not the country written on your passport. Home is where you make it. I breath Chinese air, I eat Chinese food, I drink Chinese water - I speak Chinese with my Chinese friends - how is this not "Home"? And what is China to you anyway? Is it a cow you milk daily that gets slaughtered when the quota is not good enough anymore?

I can understand though. We obviously live in a world which is based on self-centered egomaniacs, a world where loyalty and modesty are just the trait of a loser. A world where you have to be part of the pack of foreigners making decisions based on emotional incompetence and "they all gonna do it" rationality. If that's the case, then China wasn't meant for you in the first place. Neither the Chinese nor the foreigners who made China their "Home" need you anymore.

You might just buy a ticket and get out, because we never liked you anyway. In the meantime, we will fight side by side with out Chinese brothers and sisters and we will win. Don't come back knocking at that door when this is over, because it will be locked.

中国，加油!



































