A twist in the tale

After one heavy shift, when Huang helped clean the hotel for 12 hours, while wearing the protective clothing, he almost collapsed.

Huang was never careless, but he realized that he was less frightened of the virus.

"Looking back, the first few days after the lockdown, the coronavirus was demonized, but I became less fearful after helping at the hotel, since it gave me the chance to connect with people who had been infected and were now cured."

In the first days of the lockdown, Huang could only eat food he ordered online from one restaurant. He soon got bored eating the same food for days on end, until Shu noticed and invited him to dine together with his family with more delicious food and better atmosphere.

Shu lives with his wife and three children and they remained optimistic during the crisis.

In fact, Huang noticed that all of the Wuhan people he encountered, from volunteers to security guards and community workers, have been quite upbeat.

One person that amazed and inspired him was a volunteer doctor at Shu's hotel, who drove over 200 kilometers from Jingzhou, southern Hubei province, to Wuhan, the provincial capital, to volunteer. He was the first doctor to arrive there, and the only doctor at the hotel in the days to come.

"It was not his obligation to do that, but the doctor volunteered to come without expecting any favors in return," Huang says, saluting to the doctor's volunteer spirit.

Huang could tell that the mood of those quarantined in the hotel was gradually improving and they were becoming more relaxed.

"The atmosphere in the first group was a bit intense, but as we began to learn more about the virus, their mood became brighter," Huang says.

The first month in Wuhan, he spent all day following his interviewee with his camera and seven batteries.

Huang didn't have time to explore the city, but he plans to do so as soon as he can.

Before the lockdown, his days started with a bowl of reganmian, hot dry noodles, a traditional Wuhan dish, for breakfast.

The 22-year-old has one last course in his senior year, which he has been taking online in the hotel. Already enrolled as a postgraduate at Tsinghua University in September, he wants to further study journalism and learn more about documentary making.

During the summer vacation after his sophomore year, he made a documentary about a singing shepherd, which further inspired him to turn his lens on everyday stories of people from the general public. He has made documentaries about someone battling cancer and a blind masseur.

Huang has to submit his documentary in June for graduation and the editing process has already started.

He plans to come back to the city after graduation and complete the tale that first took him there－a documentary focusing mainly on the hotelier Shu's model plane obsession. Shu, now in his early 50s, had to discontinue his studies in his middle school years, but, an aviation enthusiast since childhood, Shu channeled his passion into model planes.

"It's like an unfinished story that I want to continue, since I don't like to give up halfway," Huang says.

Contact the writer at liyingxue@chinadaily.com.cn