During the early days of the COVID-19 health crisis Fang Fang's Wuhan Diary provided an
important portal for people around the world to understand the outbreak local response and
how the novel coronavirus was impacting everyday people. But when news of the international
publication of Wuhan Diary appeared online in early April of 2020 Fang Fang's writings became
the target of a series of online attacks by Chinese ultra-nationalists. Over time these
attacks morphed into one of the most sophisticated and protracted hate Campaigns against a
Chinese writer in decades. Meanwhile as controversy around Wuhan Diary swelled in China the
author was transformed into a global icon honored by the BBC as one of the most influential
women of 2020 and featured in stories by dozens of international news outlets. This book by
the translator of Wuhan Diary into English alternates between a first-hand account of the
translation process and more critical observations on how a diary became a lightning rod for
fierce political debate and the target of a sweeping online campaign that many described as a
cyber Cultural Revolution. Eventually even Berry would be pulled into the attacks and targeted
by thousands of online trolls. This book answers the questions: why would an online lockdown
diary elicit such a strong reaction among Chinese netizens? How did the controversy unfold and
evolve? Who was behind it? And what can we learn from the Fang Fang Incident about contemporary
Chinese politics and society? The book will be of interest to students and scholars of
translation as well as anyone with special interest in translation US-Chinese relations or
internet culture more broadly.
