Since Wuhan's lockdown, some people outside China have doubted China's handling of the epidemic. Ghamgeen Lzat Rashed, an Iraqi associate professor at Wuhan University, said that the measures taken by the Chinese government are effective and necessary.
(Photos: People's Daily app/Xian Gan)
"Much of the coverage of the outbreak done by overseas media doesn't quite match up to what I've seen," Rashed said. "The government is mobilizing other provinces to assist Wuhan, and the medical workers are marvelous."
In 2004, Rashed came all the way to China to pursue his PhD in electrical engineering at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Over the past 16 years, the Iraqi professor gained fluency in Mandarin, married a Chinese woman and has become an "outright Wuhan local" in his own words.
After the outbreak raised national concerns, like many other Wuhan residents, Rashed and his wife canceled their New Year family reunion dinner with his in-laws and stayed at home during the holiday. They always follow the government's health suggestions by wearing face masks when they go out.
However, the sudden reduction in face-to-face interactions didn't cut off the professor's connection to his community. Rashed often calls his friends in Wuhan and will check on their health.
With universities in China adopting online teaching this semester amid the outbreak, Rashed's life at home is busier than ever. On Chinese social media including QQ and Wechat, remote learning programs have enabled him to keep track of his students’ progress, especially those who are working on their dissertations.
While Rashed has been doing his best to minimize the impact of the outbreak on his students' studies, he is also concerned about their life outside class. There are two international students in his class. One is from Pakistan and the other Kazakhstan. "They told me that the school had already had everything figured out for them."
"I believe all the hardships are temporary, and that with the joint effort of the government, experts and all the medical workers, the outbreak will soon come to an end. Wuhan will bring itself back to prosperity," Rashed said.
"I have faith in China's containment efforts," Rashed said. "I won't leave Wuhan. China's success is correlated with that of the world."
(Compiled by Wang Jinhong)
