We were assigned policemen who are following us -Many people come here to record
-They are not so happy about it Today we are going to visit the city of Wuhan, in China. (Music) Wuhan, China
The city of headlines My friends!
Today we've travel to Wuhan, in China.
To find out what's about this city nowadays.
Surely, the name Wuhan rings a lot of bells.
Wuhan sounds very familiar to you,
but for those whose memory is failing, let me remind you.
Wuhan is the city where, up to the date, it is believed that the whole pandemic of Covid-19.
It is said that it was in a market here
that the virus originated.
Because several species that were not supposed to be together got mixed, and this subsequently led to a pandemic.
Well, I don't have to explain you,
I believe that all of us who are watching this video
experienced it from our respective parts of the world.
In this video, we're going to visit the marketplace where supposedly it all started.
We're going to see if they're still selling this controversial bat soup.
If they're still selling the Pangolin.
Everything that the news had tell us.
We are going to see what the market moved next. And we'll analyze other aspects of this city,
that marked a before and after in history of humanity.
So join me, the city of Wuhan,
China awaits us.
Let's hit it! Something we should know about Wuhan,
is that even though on our side of the
world we know it only because of Covid,
it really is a city of great importance
to Chinas territory.
Starting with its population,
which at the time this video was recorded,
is estimated to be over 12 million people.
It is Hubei provinces capital, in the country center.
And is home of many large company offices, factories and universities.
Has a subway system of 12 lines.
People from all over China come here just to study the university, 'cause they have more than 30 internationally renown.
And yes, just walking through the streets
is enough, to realize that it is huge. Look how many bicycles there are,
how many motorcycles, how many cars. How many huge buildings.
Yes, it is possible that we have only heard about it because this is where the pandemic supposedly started,
but it is a very important city and huge.
We have arrived at the place where Huanan market used to be located.
Where many social media, official versions, say the virus originated.
This is something we`ve heard many times.
That it's because they ate bat soup,
because of a mixture bat and Pangolin, with fox, with dog...
Who knows how many animals it is said that were sold here.
And yes, it is a fact that today it is completely close down by law.
What used to be food stands,
are now close with gates, chains, padlocks.
They are used as parking lots for motorcycles and bicycles.
Also serve as warehouses store.
Important to mention that all these stands,
for example, are not closed because the law dictates it, they are closed because nobody wants to rent it anymore. The ones that are closed by law are all of these here. This area that has these blue walls,
was closed because it was dictated by the government, the police. And we can see how huge it used to be. Look, is this whole block okay,
I repeat this whole blue wall, didn't exist, they were all stands,
and the block in front of us too.
Well, it was massive.
And seems a good place, to talk about the facts version,
that many social media and people handle in China.
I find this very interesting, because it tells us about an obvious media war between countries.
And let me be clear, I really don't want this to be taken as a speculation,
not at all, no no, we are not spreading false information.
I'm simply communicating you what people here say.
Many people in China, many media, say, that the virus itself didn't originate at China but was brought by the Americans to the territory.
Why does this is affirmed? You'll see,
apparently there are some world games every four years.
And at the end of 2019 happened Wuhan.
It is reported that the first people who began to feel bad, to show symptoms from Covid, were American soldiers.
Who later came to the market, spread it here, and that's why more people got infected.
Here it spread, in this core.
Because also, another little thing that they comment here from China,
is that it's not really a custom, it's not a tradition from this region, to eat neither bat, nor dog, nor fox, nor Pangolin...
What they say is "let's see, in this area of the country there are no mountains, there are no caves,
why would there be this custom?"
'Cause really to be able to find these animals,
you have to get in very well, and search deeply at the market.
The most common things they used to sell were seafood, chicken, pork, etc. What every market in the world has.
But really, that people ate bat, I'm told, and I repeat, they communicate me,
was not a common thing.
I recorded a little bit here, an audio of a conversation I had with
a person who spoke a little bit of English.
Here I play it for you: -The military came here.
By then, there was already 5 military
with the virus,
before they arrive. They didn't tell us. -At TV, they said it was because of eating bat, we don't eat bat So yes, I am not telling you this to
spread misinformation or whatever,
but I share it with you because I find very interesting the interpretation this country has, about the facts,
about what happened at a global level.
And indeed, it make us think that perhaps, the market was closed down,
not because it really presented a risk
to humanity health,
but because of media pressure.
A lot of people lost their stands, lost a lot of money,
because of what international media started to tell.
The absolute truth, we still don't know it, And I don't think we will ever know it.
But the fact is, that there is an obvious media war.
And that the stands of this market,
were relocated nowadays to a new trade center about 40 minutes
from here.
Oh look, when we really say that the market is closed, we have to
make this clear.
The whole first level is closed...
(Chinese guy -You can't record here) Oh no photos! Okay okay!
They tell me I can't record.
We'll put the camera away in a moment.
We can see that this whole area is open.
This because it closed the whole first level of the market.
The first level is the one that used to be food,
seafood markets, etc, etc.
The second level I'm told it's a eyeglasses market.
So that one is still operating. Let's go in there and I'll take some pictures with my phone.
Just to see what it looks like. 'Cause yes, you saw my brother told us that no pictures.
It's obviously a very sensitive subject. She is angry!
-It's a very sensitive place so...
-Many people come here to take photos, they're not happy about it
Uff! That didn't go well.
People got very upset.
I was able to record very little with my phone, but there was a lot of yelling and screaming.
And of course it's very understandable, because obviously they don't like media coming to record.
Their business have suffered too much because of everything that's happened.
So they're very angry.
Of course it's a very sensitive subject, More than understandable,
we're out of here.
Look, I didn't even record anything,
there's no much to describe,
Literally it's a market almost full of glasses. Lots and lots of eyeglasses stands, that looks pretty clean pretty good.
So, if it's worth to reduce the bad impact or whatever,
up there is nothing bad going on.
There are just glasses stores.
You can see that they are quality glasses,
so if you ever visit Wuhan, come to the Huanan market to buy glasses upstairs. Because the shopkeepers look like they are not having a great time. And you can tell that.
They really got angry, to the point where I said "of course they are angry, they are doing very bad financially, why wouldn't you be
angry?"
And then, they see a person coming from the American continent, with a camera...
Well they say "this guy is coming to talk bad about us"
So I just want to clarify, I obviously understand
why they're angry,
it's a very sensitive subject.
So yes, come and buy glasses here, so that our friends don't still bad anymore. "No one who doesn't be at Wuhan, can understand what we're going trough in this city"
Fang, 67 years old. "The unemployment rate is still high, which keeps the confidence of the people here weak".
Jing Li, 34 years old. We now visit the new Huanan market.
Where the entire operation moved to from the old market that we already saw.
And wow!
I must say it was a very strange experience, very surreal, quite uncomfortable.
Since we arrived, guards came to
supervise us.
I took out the camera and they told me "no no no!, keep that camera away!" in an aggressive manner.
And from there they didn't go away not even a little bit.
We had two guards following us the whole
time.
One in a motorcycle and others in a little car.
We were assigned policemen who are really following us everywhere. Some police following us...
No, no, no! super uncomfortable.
And really there's anything weird at that market, it's just a huge fish market,
that have massive fish tanks.
But really massive!
You can find all kinds of seafood.
Something curious, is that on the second floor, there is like a residential area.
You kind of realize that people live there, cause there's a lot of clothes hanging, sheets, etc, etc.
Which makes sense, because this new market is on the city outskirts.
So, it's very difficult for the workers to get here.
I imagine a lot of them live there.
But yes, as such there is nothing bad.
I didn't see, I just saw a lot of working people there, doing their business.
But the fact that we were assigned two groups of police to follow us all the time, like inspecting us.
Really not even happened when I went to Chernobyl to film Fukushima, I felt so guarded.
It makes me think what are they hiding,
or they're just really tired of having the media press all the time.
But yeah! Why so afraid of the cameras?
And literally, the only thing that's going on, is that they sell fish.
So yes, I'll say it was very uncomfortable.
What I managed to record, and photograph to show you, was with my phone.
Very discreetly or from the car when we were on our way to the exit.
And I honestly think they should let us record,
so people can see that it is in fact just a fish market.
And that they don't sell Pangolin and bats and whatever they're saying out there.
I didn't see any of that. Well, out of all the stigma that surrounds this city,
the reality is that it's a very lively city.
This street is called Jianghan.
It is a very touristic street and it's characterized by having a lot of street food.
And look how crowded it is.
People here are very cheerful.
The vibe here is completely different about the camera situation.
Here's like "welcome tourists!
Very openmind, very nice.
Another reason why people visit Wuhan,
is because they have more than 100 lakes.
100 lakes!
What a beauty. It's a city with a lot of nature,
and this has become them in bridges experts.
They tell me that Wuhan is well known, because they have made here some of the most impressive bridges.
It has a total of seven bridges that cross a huge river, that in turn passes through 40 cities,
something like that.
Therefore I am told that Wuhan is very famous, because it has a lot of engineers
and architects,
that go to many parts of the world to build safe bridges.
So yes, despite all the recent events and the world fame that they earned, the reality is that it's a
super lively city, super cheerful and
very famous for good things. We went to Wuhans subway to see more or less what it's like.
And wow! It's very active.
It has 12 lines, and it's estimated that it moves more than three and a half million people every day.
It is very modern and very
very modern, very efficient, the wagons are in good shape. Oh, in fact there are two lines that pass
under the river.
Yes, prestigious engineering.
It is so cool, really. How beautiful this area of the city is.
The buildings are really cool, it's even touching to see this city like this,
after all what they had been through.
'Cause yes, all around the world we lived through the pandemic,
of course we did.
But here, I think it was harder than anywhere else.
Just to try to imagine the magnitude of it,
this city was completely locked down for more than 3 months, completely locked down,
and then, for more than two years,
they were with a regime where they had to do a saliva test every day.
A very strict thing, So sad, that the truth, made the commerce,
the movement in this city, dropped. So seeing it so alive today, with so much commerce, with so many people walking down the street. Many of them not even wearing masks anymore.
It's touching, okay, it's cute and you can't help to feel joy for this city.
So I tell you, if you happen to be visiting China, come to Wuhan.
It's beautiful and I think this part of the population needs it more than any other, they need movement, that economic flow
that tourism brings.
And yes, this population has not seen tourists in literally years.
Let's keep walking around here.
It's nice. Well my friends, here concludes our visit
through Wuhan.
Possibly the most stigmatized city of Chinas territory.
I leave here with mixed feelings, it has been an extremely pleasant experience in many aspects.
As well as very uncomfortable in others. Because it feels that it's a society that still so afraid of media.
Cameras raises panic.
But this is entirely understandable.
It's a city that has been marked by literally the entire world.
Like "look, those were guilty, there's where it all came from".
Of course media have taken it upon themselves to give it a very bad image.
And of course people have are going to be very alert, and very drifting. However, it's a society that, like the rest of the planet, has passed a very hard time and that expects nothing but a bright future for its inhabitants. As you have seen it friends,
would you like to add information?
Correct me maybe. Please let me read you down here,
in the comments below.
Thank you so much for joined me.
And see you, as always, in a few days,
with a new video.
Bye 再见
