Essays ⁽³⁴⁹⁾

In Lianhe Zaobao's annual "Character of the Year" poll, the character receiving the most votes this year was "chaos" (luan). This character aptly captures the state of the whole world in 2022.Since abandoning its zero-COVID policy on April 27 and choosing to coexist with the…

Whenever society falls into some kind of crisis, rumors inevitably spring up everywhere. Many people are swayed by them. Lately there have been especially many rumors, and numerous patients and their families have come to me asking me to verify claims that are plainly contrary…

Last night our community finally had two confirmed cases; two of our three buildings were locked down, and our own building was lucky enough not to be sealed. But when I went out I saw community workers busy moving shelving units downstairs, apparently preparing for…

One after another, the buildings in our community are being put under temporary lockdown, and at the market by the back gate, residents not yet locked down are buying and hoarding groceries by the bagful. I restock once a week; I always make sure the…

On November 21, 2022, a garment factory making cotton-padded clothing caught fire in Anyang, Henan. As of now, the fire has killed 38 workers. This news story has upset me deeply.Henan and Hubei are neighboring provinces; the rural areas of the two have similar economic…

Yesterday evening, a sudden notice to lock down our building went out in the community group. The reason: a neighbor of ours had taken part in a pooled nucleic-acid test together with a group of people elsewhere, and their tube came back positive, so we…

When I was a child in the countryside, huge rats were everywhere. But in today's countryside, large rats have nearly vanished; only the house mouse, far smaller than the old rats, remains. Why? Did food shortage make rats smaller?Actually this is natural selection (or artificial…

These past two days I have shrunk my "balcony vegetable garden" by about half. I threw away the old foam boxes and added their soil to the planting pots. After tidying up, I sowed some spinach seeds in the pots—at this season, besides spinach, there…

During the National Day holiday, everywhere is crowded. The country park I often visit has also been packed these past days. As someone who loves quiet, I dislike joining the crowds, so I rode my bicycle to seek out the neglected wild gardens at the…

“Outside Gusu City lies Hanshan Temple; at midnight its bell reaches the traveler's boat.” In that era with little noise, in the dead of night the ancient, melodious bell rung by the early-rising monks of Hanshan Temple, piercing the heavens and reaching the ears of…