BEIJING– China has stabilized the COVID-19 epidemic situation in a short period of time. It could not have been achieved without the practice of collectivism by the Chinese people.
Under the leadership of Chinese President Xi Jinping, the whole nation has been mobilized in the fight against the virus. People from all walks of life made concerted efforts and fought in unity.
Medical workers, in particular, are devoted to the fighting of the epidemic on the front line, some even sacrificing their own lives. They fully demonstrated the strength of the collectivist spirit.
Facing an epidemic that has proved to be the most difficult to contain in the country since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the country has applied unprecedented quarantine and isolation measures including the lockdown of Wuhan, a city of more than 10 million at the center of the outbreak. These measures have proved effective as the peak of the epidemic has passed, and new infections have dwindled, from thousands of cases a day, to only a few in the outbreak epicenter.
It is indeed a “people’s war” against the epidemic, which demonstrates China’s ability to mobilize huge resources and its sheer national strength while relying on its people to win.
With the full practice of collectivism and patriotism, the Chinese people have shown national unity and cohesion.
The collectivism embodied by the Chinese people has earned the praise of multinational agencies. Experts with the World Health Organization (WHO) appreciated China’s phenomenal collective action after they concluded a field investigation in the country.
Bruce Aylward, who led a China-WHO joint mission, said every person he talked to in China has a sense that they are mobilized and organized like in a war against the virus, and it is never easy to get the kind of passion, commitment, interest and individual sense of duty that have helped stop the virus.
When commenting on China’s anti-virus efforts, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he had never seen this kind of mobilization.
The Chinese nation has experienced many ordeals in its history, but it has never been overwhelmed. Instead, it has become more and more courageous, growing and rising up from hardships. Collectivism played a key role in Chinese society in the past, has proved effective today and will continue to be a core component of Chinese society in the future.