![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/04\/1-Wuhan1-001.jpg\")
Wuhan’s icon – the Yellow Crane Tower.<\/p><\/div>\n
Add Oil!<\/h2>\n
If you’ve had enough of hearing and worrying about the virus, imagine how the people in Wuhan feel. The city of 11 million was the epicenter of the virus and it has been on lockdown for nearly two months now.<\/p>\n
Being trapped inside your home and all the uncertainty surrounding the virus made for a pretty hopeless situation. However, a few days into the lockdown the residents of Wuhan began opening their windows and shouting a message of hope to each other:<\/p>\n
\u6b66\u6c49\u52a0\u6cb9!
\nw\u01d4 h\u00e0n ji\u0101 y\u00f3u<\/h3>\n
This is one of those funny Chinese phrases that’s impossible to translate directly. On its own, \u52a0\u6cb9 literally means “add oil.” Just look at the Chinese word for gas station<\/strong> (\u52a0\u6cb9\u7ad9 – ji\u0101 y\u00f3u zh\u00e0n) – it literally means “add oil station.”<\/p>\n While you can use this phrase in a literal sense when you’re running on empty and need to fill up, it’s also commonly used to give encouragement. It’s what you say to root for your favorite team or just to encourage friends or family members.<\/p>\n One of the first phrases I learned when I moved to China was “Go USA<\/strong>!” (\u7f8e\u56fd\u52a0\u6cb9! – m\u011bi gu\u00f3 ji\u0101 y\u00f3u) as I arrived at the start of the 2008 Olympics. Of course, in the events where we weren’t up against each other, I also joined the masses in chanting “Go China<\/strong>!” (\u4e2d\u56fd\u52a0\u6cb9 – zh\u014dng gu\u00f3 ji\u0101 y\u00f3u).<\/p>\n Every night, citizens of Wuhan who are under mandatory quarantine have been rushing to their windows around 8 PM to shout out the rallying cry – \u6b66\u6c49\u52a0\u6cb9! Soon enough, the phrase started trending on Weibo, China’s most popular social media platform.<\/p>\n A Day in Wuhan<\/p><\/div>\n With most Western media coverage of Wuhan showing the empty streets and crowded hospitals, the chants of \u6b66\u6c49\u52a0\u6cb9! helped to humanize the millions of people in the city who are on lockdown. The phenomenon was even picked up by the BBC in this article<\/a>.<\/p>\n People all over the world are sending a message of “Be Strong Wuhan,” which has become the favored English translation for the phrase. There have been a lot of touching stories coming out, like this one<\/a> about the Walk for Wuhan in Newton, MA.<\/p>\n Hundreds of people turned out and chipped in $10 each for “Be Strong Wuhan” t-shirts. They walked for a few miles with a banner displaying the same message of hope as Chinese singers sang traditional songs. The money raised from the event went to buy much-needed supplies for the Wuhan University Hospital.<\/p>\n Amidst all the news of people avoiding Chinese restaurants and xenophobic statements in Western media, this is the kind of positivity we all need to focus on at the moment.<\/p>\n A Wuhan specialty.<\/p><\/div>\n There’s more than just the catchphrase to encourage the people of Wuhan and the entire world in the face of this pandemic. A song called “My City is Sick, But I Still Love It<\/strong>” (\u6211\u7684\u57ce\u5e02\u751f\u75c5\u4e86, \u4f46\u6211\u4f9d\u7136\u7231\u5b83 – w\u01d2 de ch\u00e9ng sh\u00ec sh\u0113ng b\u00ecng le, d\u00e0n w\u01d2 y\u012b r\u00e1n \u00e0i t\u0101) has become the hopeful theme song of Wuhan.<\/p>\n I encourage you to listen to the heartfelt song and follow along with the lyrics for some Chinese practice today:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2016\/04\/1-Wuhan.jpg\")
A Message of Hope<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/02\/DSC_0622.jpg\")
A Song for Wuhan<\/h2>\n