Dong Qiangqiang's Story of Leaving Germany

The tall foreign student's bossy attitude reminded Dong Qiangqiang of a line from the cartoon "The Fisher Boy" that he watched when he was a child: "Your fish bowl was originally a treasure I brought from my country."

Some people just can't get enough of taking advantage.

"Everyone, please be quiet." Dong Qiangqiang maintained order while thinking about how to respond without letting the other party catch him.

But no one listened to him. Various voices came one after another, some loudly agreeing with the speaker, some expressing opposition. He had no choice but to resort to the "howling method" again.

Sure enough, this trick worked, and the noise in the venue subsided again.

"I believe the gentleman's question may also represent the thoughts of many people. To be honest, I had similar problems at the beginning, so I flew back to my hometown and went to different hospitals to try to find answers and eliminate my problems."

Dong Qiangqiang did not refute the other party right away, accusing him of having wrong views and confusing logic. Instead, he partially agreed with the question first, making the questioner confused about his attitude for a while and making everyone unable to help but listen to what he would say next.

"As the world's largest developing country, our public health system was initially established with reference to the standards of the public health systems of developed countries such as the United States and Germany. It is also according to these standards that an epidemic infectious disease may take a few weeks or even months to attract the attention or concern of the public health system." Although he had practiced spoken English with the landlord for a long time, Dong Qiangqiang deliberately slowed down his speech. On the one hand, it was to calm himself down, and on the other hand, he wanted to drag the questioner into his own rhythm. If he blindly followed the other party's rhythm, he would suffer a lot.

"Why is it taking so long?" the tall student asked sharply, "Isn't this just a deliberate delay?"

"Because the disease surveillance mechanism of the public health system requires sufficient scientific research time, which includes not only timely collection and reporting of public health information, but also the ability to correctly analyze the implications behind this information. Only in this way can we have the possibility of early detection and intervention of large-scale epidemic outbreaks."

Dong Qiangqiang tried hard not to stutter when he spoke, and at the same time he did not stand straight in front of the podium without moving. The row of headlights above his head was even hotter than he thought. He felt that he would be roasted to medium rare if he stood for a few more minutes. He could clearly feel that his shirt was completely soaked in just a few minutes, and the sweat was attacking the suit through the shirt, and the suit was like rusty iron armor stuck to the shirt, making people feel heavier. He wanted to take off his suit, but in the end he couldn't help but walk around to let himself have some wind. While walking, he looked back at Zheng Chunhua and couldn't help but sigh that God knew how she had survived until now.

"Everyone knows that SARS is a new epidemic. To this day, no country has sufficient knowledge on how to prevent and treat SARS. Lack of knowledge means that the spread of the virus cannot be effectively prevented. It may spread widely like the flu, regardless of whether the country's public health system is developed. I have a small question: Does anyone here know which are the only three epidemic infectious diseases that must be reported to the international community and the WHO?"

There was a lot of whispering in the audience, but no one raised their hand.

"According to the relevant regulations of the World Health Organization, the plague, cholera and yellow fever must be reported, and SARS does not belong to any of them." Dong Qiangqiang was so stuffy that he couldn't breathe. Finally, he couldn't help but reach out to take off his tie and put it in his trouser pocket, and then unbuttoned the first two buttons of his shirt. He felt much more relaxed. "Maybe someone will say that we should have reminded other countries of SARS earlier. Yes, this idea is not wrong, but there is no definite formal system in the world today for countries to notify each other of the outbreak of epidemics. The WHO also issued the first global alert in the history of the WHO after the outbreak of SARS. Therefore, the most important thing now is not to harm neighbors or blame each other, but that all countries should work together and unite to abide by the same effective measures to prevent SARS and thoroughly control the continuous spread of this epidemic around the world."

After these words were spoken, there was a whispering among the audience again. Dong Qiangqiang saw that some people kept nodding their heads while others sighed and shook their heads. Although there were quite a few people talking, no one stood up to question.

Dong Qiangqiang saw that the landlord in the audience was also nodding, as if he agreed with what he said.

"In addition, the gentleman just now said that we did not pay enough attention to it before. It was possible at the beginning, but it is not difficult to understand. That was our approach based on our past experience when we did not know about SARS. But when we gradually realized the harm and danger of SARS, we took it more seriously than anyone else: China first announced the SARS situation on February 2 this year. This announcement was not only a warning to ourselves but also to the world. Our Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization reached an unprecedented international cooperation. The frequency of SARS information broadcasting was changed from once every five days to daily timely reporting. Not only did we remove incompetent officials in time, but we also created a new Chinese miracle. Just today, after more than 11 builders worked day and night for seven days and seven nights without sleep, China's largest infectious disease hospital with a total construction area of ​​ square meters and beds was officially completed. More than medical workers have moved in, and more than SARS patients have been admitted to the hospital for treatment. At present, no country in the world can be as fast, efficient and quick as us. All of this shows that we take it seriously." Dong Qiangqiang took the initiative to mention the dismissed personnel in order to avoid being passive when being asked questions by others later. Since he couldn't avoid it, he might as well say it first. And those numbers that he blurted out and counted like the back of his hand were all in his mind when he sorted out the daily dynamics with Fang Shuang. He never thought that he had a photographic memory, but those numbers were like roots in his mind, unforgettable. He didn't know the reason, maybe it was his attachment to his hometown that made him remember the people and things that happened on that land.

Zheng Chunhua felt more at ease since Dong Qiangqiang chose to stay on the stage. Zheng Chunhua knew that Dong Qiangqiang's oral English and on-the-spot response were quite good because she had the experience of sitting in on Dong Qiangqiang's free class in the office. However, she was still somewhat surprised to see that he could still handle the crowd with ease.

"Even if you care, you still have to pay compensation..." A woman in the upper row shouted, causing the audience in the lower row to turn around and look upwards, "You can't deny it."

Dong Qiangqiang looked in the direction of the voice and saw a woman standing up in the audience on the right. The gradient sunglasses on her nose covered most of her face. She was holding a long microphone in her hand and seemed to have a badge on her clothes. It was the female reporter he almost bumped into at the classroom door before.

He felt that the other person looked familiar from the first sight, but he couldn't remember where he had seen him for a long time. When he suddenly heard the other person's voice, he seemed to have a better impression of him, but it was not very clear.

He turned his gaze back to the audience in front of him: "Excuse me, does anyone know in which country the first case of AIDS was discovered?"

"America," someone responded loudly.

"That's absolutely right." Dong Qiangqiang pointed to the source of the voice. "Has any country in the world ever claimed compensation from the United States because of AIDS patients in its country? Has there been any?"

Silence fell.

"The answer is no. Since SARS is the common enemy of all mankind and we are victims of SARS like everyone else, why are we the only ones being asked to pay compensation? I think the so-called global compensation is completely nonsense. No one with a conscience and correct values ​​should make such an unreasonable request. In fact, at the end of April, Chancellor Schröder expressed his condolences and support for my country's fight against SARS. You can all see these reports in the newspapers."

Although he has been targeted all the time, Dong Qiangqiang kept reminding himself when answering questions to state only the facts as much as possible and try not to debate with the other party. Without debate, he would not fall into a binary opposition context, and would not be caught and led by the nose by the other party due to careless choice of words. After all, German is not his native language.

"It is said that some people were dismissed because of falsified data. How do you explain this?" The woman in sunglasses changed the subject but still persisted.

It was not until then that Dong Qiangqiang finally connected the person in front of him with the person in his memory.

Although the other person's hairstyle, hair color, makeup and clothing have all changed, her voice has never changed. The last time I was beaten was also related to this woman. (End of this chapter)