The world of Tzu Chi March 2020(Vol.120)

eature I hail from Jiaxing City in Zhejiang Province, located more than 800 km fromWuhan City in Hubei Province. This is my ninth year living in Wuhan since moving here in 2012. Every year, I would return home during the Spring Festival. This year was no exception; my husband and I planned to take the high-speed rail back to Zhejiang on the second day of the Lunar New Year after sending New Year wishes with fellowWuhan-based volunteers to Master Cheng Yen at the Jing Si Abode in Hualien, Taiwan via live telecast. Volunteers from Wuhan conducted a Year- end Blessing Ceremony on December 29, 2019 with an attendance of nearly 700. Following that, we were gearing our efforts towards preparing for the upcoming winter distribution and New Year gathering event on January 5, 2020 for care recipients inWuhan. On December 30, 2019, the Text and photographs by Zhou Li Yan (Tzu Chi volunteer from Wuhan, Hubei Province) Translated by Choo Suet Fun Zhejiang-born, Wuhan-based volunteer Zhou Li Yan recounts her experience of isolation in her adopted city and the surge of conflicting emotions brewing within her after local authorities ordered public transportation to cease operations and prohibited movement into and from the city of Wuhan. A city under lockdown Wuhan Municipal Health Commission issued an emergency memorandum to local healthcare institutions, outlining guidelines on dealing with patients who had contracted the then- unidentified respiratory disease. The contents of the memorandum were widely circulated on the internet, yet most of the locals dismissed them as counterfeit documents or unfounded rumours. Moreover, flu is a common ailment during the winter season. Everyone was basking in the festivities; no one paid much attention to the memorandum. The care recipients were looking forward to the winter distribution and steamboat gathering. On New Year’s Day, the Wuhan Huanan Wholesale Seafood Market suspended its operations following suspicions of it being the source of the novel disease. Volunteer Fan Li Hua, who works at a hospital, suggested to defer 2020 • 03 08