On Sunday, the exciting news came that Huoshenshan Hospital, a makeshift hospital with 1,000 beds for patients infected with the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, was completed after 10 days of construction.

This was undoubtedly a reassurance for Wuhan, capital of Central China’s Hubei Province, which is the epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic.

China’s speed once again amazed the world, and the country’s title “infrastructure maniac” once again dominated commentary on social media.

Overseas netizens tweeted statements like “God made the universe in 7 days. I think God was Chinese” and “The Chinese never fail to impress.”

“There are no other countries that can do things so fast,” said Trevor Noah, the famous American talk show host.

In addition to medical facilities, the hospital, covering 34,000 square meters, equivalent to seven soccer pitches, was well-equipped with televisions, water heaters, air conditioners, independent toilets, and even 5G base stations.

The building of all this, from leveling the land to completion, only took 10 days.

The success is more proof of the advantages of China’s socialist system to mobilize the necessary resources for big undertakings.

It’s also the toil and sweat of thousands of workers that have made the “impossible” come true.

Since January 24, the Chinese Lunar New Year’s Eve, thousands of workers from across the country joined the construction efforts day and night. During peak times, there were more than 7,000 people and over 800 digging machines and bulldozers working on the site at the same time.

Among them was a man from Henan Province. When being thanked, he said he was just doing things he should do.

A man from Shandong Province secretly made a will: “I secretly wrote a will before I came, in which I told my son to kowtow in the direction of Wuhan if I should die.”

When asked why, he said he came with a will to battle to the death. “If the epidemic is not defeated, I will not go home.”

A man from Weifang, Shandong, didn’t let out a word of complaint after getting injured.

He went back to work immediately after his broken finger was wrapped with adhesive tape.

When advised to take a rest, he said, “If the construction can be completed one minute earlier, patients can be treated one minute earlier.”

Working on two shifts around the clock, many didn’t have enough time for sleep. When tired, they just took a nap and soon went back to work. Where did they sleep? Mud floors, water pipes and plank roofs were their beds.

This construction is no miracle, but a group of persistent ordinary workers working hard!

Because of them, China has the “magic” to create world wonders and the strength to race against death.

Although these workers are not medical workers treating patients on frontlines, they are heroes fighting for time to ward off death! Together with front-line medical workers, the efforts of these construction workers will always be remembered by the Chinese people.

(Cao Mengqi contributed to the story)