A still from the documentary "Wuhan Lockdown" featuring interviewee Zhang Hai and a photo of his father, who passed away during the pandemic. (Documentary screenshot)
[People News] It was like being in an espionage thriller. The creators of the documentary, based in the United States, used encrypted communication software to remotely contact interviewees in Wuhan, China.
"We arranged a time and place with them in advance, instructed them not to bring their phones, and then coordinated with volunteers for the interviews, also telling them not to bring their phones. We warned both sides that if they sensed anything suspicious, they should leave immediately and cancel the interview."
According to Voice of America, this is how members of the Wuhan Lockdown documentary production team described the secretive process of making the film.
"When we first started working on this, many of our team members were still in China. The surveillance was extremely strict, and they were at the greatest risk," said Tang Maoqin, the documentary's English translator and a Ph.D. in religious studies from Boston University, in an interview with Voice of America.
Tang explained that the post-production editing was also secretly carried out between China and the U.S. The team used email accounts registered with special domain names to communicate. One of the main creators, media professional Lu Yuyu—who was previously imprisoned for founding the independent news site Non-News—remained under close surveillance by state security even after his release. To avoid leaving digital traces, he uploaded only a few minutes of edited footage each day to a private cloud storage before immediately deleting it from his computer.
On Monday, January 27, this documentary—produced in secret by volunteers inside and outside of China—was screened at the Monsoon Bookstore in Washington, D.C. The nearly two-hour film not only documents the devastating toll the 100-day lockdown took on the residents of Wuhan but also exposes the Chinese government's harsh censorship of speech and news during that period.
In January 2020, Wuhan became the first city in the world to report an outbreak of COVID-19 and the first to undergo a complete lockdown in an attempt to contain the pandemic.
"This was not just a public health crisis; it was also a battle over information and truth," said Yu Miao, CEO of Monsoon Bookstore, addressing the audience—many of whom were non-Asian.
Yu continued, "At the start of the outbreak, a doctor named Li Wenliang tried to warn the world, but his voice was quickly drowned out in silence. The Chinese Communist Party's propaganda machine went into overdrive, countless truths were buried, and countless voices were silenced. In this city, freedom of speech became the most unattainable luxury."
Yu Liwei, originally from Shanghai and now living in the U.S., attended the screening. He believes that even five years after the outbreak, China has yet to recover from that period of suffering.
"Even after the lockdown was lifted, many events followed—such as the White Paper Movement and reflections on the pandemic. However, due to the strict control over information and news in China, many voices were never heard," he said.
Even now, five years later, debates over the origins of the virus continue, and many questions remain unanswered. Yu Liwei told Voice of America that the full truth about the pandemic—and its ultimate consequences—will take more time and more evidence to uncover. He also believes that the world may never know the actual death toll in Wuhan, as the real numbers may be forever concealed.
Several interviewees and members of the Wuhan Lockdown documentary team have gone into exile. Yang Min, who lost her daughter during the pandemic, left China in 2023 and eventually settled in the Netherlands. Last year, Lu Yuyu made a perilous escape and arrived in Canada. However, many others still remain in China, living under anonymity.
Tang Maoqin, the documentary's English translator, told Voice of America that as a Chinese person who left the mainland, she felt immense pride in being part of this project. Despite the risks it posed to herself and her family back in China, she saw it as an inescapable responsibility.
"The Wuhan lockdown is a collective memory of the entire nation and people—a true historical catastrophe. As we lived through the lockdown and the series of events that followed, our hearts were filled with sorrow and powerlessness. I felt so small, but I wanted to do something," she said.
At the end of the screening, Tang Maoqin spoke on behalf of the film’s creators, saying that all the footage, events, and words in the documentary were originally created and shared by Chinese netizens. The team merely gathered and compiled them into a film. "With this documentary, we hope to express our gratitude and pay tribute to every Chinese citizen who dares to speak the truth," she said.
News magazine bootstrap themes!
I like this themes, fast loading and look profesional
Thank you Carlos!
You're welcome!
Please support me with give positive rating!
Yes Sure!