Foreigner sends rumors packing in Wuhan

Successful efforts

When he posted his remarks, Sayed never expected them to attract such a big response.

He received more than 1,000 comments, over 5,000 "likes", more than 1,000 new followers, and the remarks were forwarded some 1,500 times.

"I spent a whole day replying to the comments. I was glad to see that so many people in the world cared about Wuhan. I think they really cared about lives in the city. The problem was that there was little reliable information and people were easily misled by certain Western media outlets," Sayed said.

His rumor-breaking efforts proved a success, as the false video footage about Wuhan were later confirmed to have been shot in Indonesia and the Pacific island nation of Palau.

Inspired by his efforts, and to address doubts voiced in the comments he received, Sayed aired a livestream broadcast.

Using a face mask and headphones, he took to the streets of Wuhan to interview people in what is believed to have been the first such broadcast transmitted in Arabic during the lockdown.

For the session, Sayed bought four 5-liter bottles of water from a shop for his interviewees. "The shop owner charged 10 yuan ($1.60) for each bottle, the same price as before the pandemic emerged. It was amazing," he said.

The broadcast, which refuted rumors of price hikes in Wuhan, was widely reported and quoted by Arabic-and English-language media outlets. It painted a true picture of the situation in the city－that there were ample food supplies, stable prices and good supervision from the local authorities.

As a result of the broadcast, Sayed became a celebrity on social media platforms.

He compared the combined efforts made in Wuhan during those dark days to a warrior fighting a battle.

In the book he wrote later, he states: "Since the outbreak emerged, quite a few voices have been hostile to China, especially some media outlets in the United States and some of its allies, which used the epidemic to badmouth China. It was like a war against both the epidemic and rumors, and I could be a source of real news.

"Some of my ammunition came from enemy hands. I saw the rumors online, gathered the truth from reliable sources to break them, and told it to the whole world in this way."

At times, the enemy "ammunition" was so strange that it was not worth refuting.

Some US websites claimed that the novel coronavirus only infected Asians, while others referred to a "biological war launched by the US", or said that the outbreak resulted from a possible leak at a laboratory.

Sayed carefully selected rumors that had been spread the most, refuting them one by one. "Some of these reports were more like Hollywood fiction. We have seen enough of them and they are nothing new to us," he said.

Zhang Yanqiu, professor of communication and deputy dean of the Institute for a Community with a Shared Future at Communication University of China, said Sayed had chosen a smart way to fight rumors, because most of the biased reports in Western media outlets were contradictory.

She said that people in the West, long drained by such reports, might gain a stereotyped impression of China. By telling his own stories, Sayed had helped greatly in correcting the situation, as well as pointing out the shortcomings of some Western media outlets.

Sayed hit the headlines in his home country. On Feb 3 last year, he accepted an online interview with OTV, a television station based in Lebanon, in which he said his compatriots "felt good in Wuhan".

On Feb 21 last year, when the first COVID-19 infection was reported in Lebanon, he updated his Facebook account, detailing the most effective ways to fight the pandemic.

He adopted an open attitude toward global media outlets, aiming to give them the truth about the situation in Wuhan, and to relay this information to a wider audience.

In the first two months of last year, Sayed gave more than 100 interviews to global media outlets. Since then, the number has exceeded 500, and is continuing to rise.

In his Facebook updates and interviews with media outlets, he shared a wide range of local information with the world.

He told how the Huoshenshan and Leishenshan emergency hospitals were built in Wuhan within days, how local stadiums served as cabin hospitals for patients with slight infections, and how medical workers from across China worked with local colleagues to fight the pandemic.

On April 8, the lockdown ended in Wuhan. Two days later, Sayed gathered the items he posted on Facebook during this period and decided to write a book based on them.

"I faithfully recorded what happened in Wuhan during the lockdown. I hoped to let the whole world know the truth here, and tell what we had done to fight the pandemic," he said.

"I wanted to let the world know about China's efforts and the contribution it made."

In June, his book, Firmness: A Foreigner's Wuhan Diary, was published in Arabic in Lebanon. In December, it was published in Chinese by Contemporary World Press in China.

Wei Yinping, editor of the Chinese version, said she "felt a responsibility to publish it."

"It is more than just a record of a person's life. It is a record of how Wuhan people fought in the most difficult days and how foreigners with a sense of justice stood with us," Wei said.

Dong Guanpeng, a member of the national group of COVID-19 experts, spoke highly of Sayed's diary and the book based on it. "This helps us observe and look back on the global reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic in a more rational way," Dong said.

Zhang admired the fact that foreigners living in China were writing books about the country.

"It will be easier for people in the Arab world to accept this book, because it is written by a compatriot in their language. It is a good trend for foreigners in China to share their experiences, and we hope they do this well," she said.

During Spring Festival, Sayed stayed in Wuhan to work on the dissertation for his doctoral studies in the new semester.

He continues to update his Facebook account.

"We will fight on to clear all the rumors", he said. "There should be no place for them."