China coronavirus: YouTube and Twitter show realities of life in lockdown
- Wuhan residents share their experiences on social media, including platforms beyond the Chinese ‘Great Firewall’
- Videos show people shouting encouragement to each other from their windows to boost morale
Almost the entire province is in lockdown because of the virus, which originated in Wuhan and has so far infected more than 4,500 people and caused more than 100 deaths.
The hashtag “lockdown diary” on China’s Twitter-like social media platform Weibo has become a place for residents to share their stories with local media, while some are taking their message beyond the country’s “Great Firewall” to circumvent the mainland’s widespread censorship.
Wuhan-based vlogger Luo Bin’s daily videos of life under lockdown on YouTube – which, like Twitter, is unavailable in China – have racked up hundreds of thousands of views. Luo, who normally posts gadget reviews and travel vlogs, has become a crucial window into the realities of living under a citywide quarantine.
In one video published on Saturday, Luo described how he had to queue from early in the morning for supermarket supplies after citywide food shortages after the quarantine first came into effect on Tuesday, just before the Lunar New Year, China’s biggest holiday.
