When a 37-year-old Wuhan man decided to drive his car around the city for a bit and video the scenes outside, he had no idea what he was putting in motion.
Going by his Weibo username, Spider Monkey Bread, he was the next week to find himself a volunteer medical aid worker in close contact with Covid-19 patients.
And professional video blogger with almost 4 million followers.
Part of Spider’s motivation for making this first video was to contradict rumours that the city is in a state of despair. Quite the contrary; the streets might be empty but they and the citizens are decidedly orderly. Some of the shelves of Walmart are indeed empty but there is no shortage of vegetables and instant noodles. Spider comments in the video is that he is confident replenishments shall become more frequent and stable.
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At time of writing, Spider’s “Diary of Wuhan” (武汉日记) videos have racked up over 31 million views on Weibo and hundreds of thousands on both YouTube and Russian video site 26p.ru.
By day 3, Feng realises that he has a hit on his hands, and responds appropriately to his audience. “I didn’t expect to have received so much attention from the initial idea of a simple recording to now. I thank the whole world for paying attention to the fate of Wuhan, which makes me more responsible and motivated as a videographer.”
Born in 1982 and a graduate of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Spider supports the quarantine of his city. On the second day of the quarantine, Spider saw an appeal seeking drivers for medical staff and found himself joining a volunteer organisation for the first time.
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In a later video, Spider is in full protective gear and opening boxes that have been delivered to his home by courier. He’s been assigned to deliver medicine to Covid-19 patients.
He also visits the Leishenshan hospital construction site and meets many more volunteer workers. “They are enthusiastic, brave and unknown, working to protect our city”, said Spider in one of his videos that he has further enhanced using arial photography, showing the empty, eerie streets of Wuhan today.
