Geremie R. Barmé translated this essay from Chinese. He is a historian, cultural critic, filmmaker, translator, and web-journal editor who works on Chinese cultural and intellectual history from the early-modern period (1600s) to the present. In 2016, he cofounded (with John Minford) the Wairarapa Academy for New Sinology, which publishes China Heritage. This translation appeared in ChinaFile, an online magazine published by Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relations. It is republished here with permission.
The coronavirus outbreak has exposed the corrupt and rotten core of the Chinese Communist Party’s dictatorial rule over China. It is a moment of revelation. Can it also become one that leads to change?
