Translation, Disinformation, and Wuhan Diary: Anatomy of a Transpacific Cyber Campaign

237 Pages·2022·6.501 MB·English

by  Michael Berry

TRANSLATION,
DISINFORMATION,
Anatomy of a Transpacifi c
Cyber Campaign
AND WUHAN
DIARY
MICHAEL BERRY
Translation, Disinformation, and Wuhan Diary
Michael Berry
Translation,
Disinformation, and
Wuhan Diary
Anatomy of a Transpacific Cyber Campaign
Michael Berry
Department of Asian Languages & Cultures
University of California, Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES, CA, USA
ISBN 978-3-031-16858-1 ISBN 978-3-031-16859-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16859-8
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There is only one true test, and that is how you treat the weakest
and most vulnerable members of your society.
—Fang Fang
for Fang Fang
A
cknowledgments
The first draft of this book was written amid unusual circumstances;
between June and November of 2020 I was still locked down at home in
Los Angeles, California, requiring me to juggle between writing, online
teaching, and constant supervision of my children whose elementary
school classes had also migrated online due to COVID-19. Of course,
there was also the ongoing disinformation campaign, which is the subject
of this book, which was playing out in real time as I wrote. Special thanks
to my wife Suk-Young Kim and my children, Miles and Naima, for their
patience and support as I navigated the storm and did my best to docu-
ment what was playing out. As I revised and expanded the manuscript
throughout 2021 and into early 2022, I was fortunate to receive valuable
feedback from David Der-wei Wang, Jing Tsu, Perry Link, Ian Johnson,
John Nathan, Michael Emmerich, Ashley Esarey, Kaiser Kuo, and Jeffrey
Wasserstrom. I want to single out my UCLA colleague King-Kok Cheung
who not only provided strong moral support but also invaluable editorial
input. The comments of the three external reviewers helped make this a
better book. Between 2020 and 2022 I delivered several dozen (mostly
online) lectures on Wuhan Diary and I benefited greatly from the com-
ments and questions posed at all of those events, which provided me an
opportunity to workshop some of the ideas presented in this book and
prodded me to think about this project from new perspectives. Thanks to
Liang Yanping, Wang Xiaoni, Erxiang, and all of those who supported
Fang Fang, even in the face of threats and reprisals. Thanks to Alice Green,
Cathy Scott, Sarah Hills, and Kiruthika Counassegarane at Palgrave
ix
x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Macmillan for their support of this project, the editorial team at HarperVia,
and Jennifer Lyons who championed this book from the beginning and
has been an ardent supporter throughout this unusual journey. Final
thanks go to Fang Fang, to whom I dedicate this book. May her model of
bravery, tenacity, and commitment to truth continue to inspire and shine
brightly.
c
ontents
1 Introduction: Origins 1
2 Viral Diary 13
3 Translation and the Virus 31
4 Attack the Title 41
5 Unleash the Trolls 57
6 Witch Hunt 87
7 Pop Goes Fang Fang? 103
8 Wuhan Diaries 115
9 The Strange 135
10 Reasons 159
11 Lessons 179
xi
xii CONTENTS
12 Coda: The Light 201
Bibliography 211
Index 221