Earlier this year, images of deserted streets in the Chinese city of Wuhan seemed remarkable to a world not yet familiar with the realities of lockdowns and social distance.
This week, another set of photos of Wuhan went viral on social media, showing just how our world is dressed upside down.
The images show the city’s Wuhan Maya Beach Water Park hosting an electronic music festival on Saturday. Thousands of bathers, many of them who prefer the inflatable rubber rings over masks, were pushed into the water when a DJ took the stage by the pool.
It would be an arresting face in any country dominated this year by social distance. But in Wuhan, it carried that particular resonance: the first place hit by COVID-19 before the coronavirus escaped into the world, infecting nearly 22 million people and killing some 775,000.
The vast majority of China’s 4,634 reported coronavirus deaths have occurred in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province. The city’s 11 million people saw one of the world’s worst lockdowns, which ended in late April. International governments and experts have accused Chinese officials of acting too late and even trying to cover up aspects of the virus’ early onset, something Beijing has denied.
Although there have been questions about the transparency and accuracy of figures from China, there have been no registered cases of community transportation in Wuhan since May.
Wuhan Maya Beach Water Park is owned by Happy Valley, China’s leading park operator.
In an effort to increase tourism, the Hubei Department of Culture and Tourism has provided free access to 400 sites throughout the province. The water park’s HOHA music festival runs every night from July 11 to August 30.
Participants were required to make an appointment on the WeChat app, to show that they were from an “low risk” area and to register with Hubei’s health authority.
