Chinese novelist Fang Fang, who biasedly recorded the daily lives of local residents during Wuhan's lockdown based on rumors and innuendo, was found removed from the latest members list of the 10th National Congress of the Chinese Writers Association (CWA). 

Former vice head of CWA Zhang Kangkang, who once supported Fang, also disappeared from the list. A new leadership was elected at the meeting of CWA on Thursday. According to chinawriter.com, Fang and Zhang were on the list of the 9th National Congress of the CWA in the 2018 version.

On the Tuesday opening of the 11th National Congress of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC) and the 10th National Congress of the CWA, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that writers and artists should not become slaves of the market, and should strengthen cultural confidence and make contributions to realizing the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation. 

After the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan in 2019 which led to the lockdown of the city, Fang started to write what is now known as the "Wuhan Diary" from January to March 2020, describing what she saw and heard during the lockdown and her personal reflections. 

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202004/1186483.shtml

However, Fang attracted public resentment after announcing that her biased 60-episode diary will be published overseas, which is regarded as "handing a sword" to Western anti-China forces just for her own fame, especially when much of the plot was regarded as fabricated and exaggerated. 

As for Zhang, who served as a member of the 10th to 12th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, publicly defended Fang several times. Many Chinese netizens said Zhang is "even a worse traitor than Fang," as she once surprisingly showed off her "superiority" as the vice chairman of the CWA, saying that "the crowd is always the dumbest."

Some analysts said that writers like Fang and Zhang who called themselves critics also need to tolerate being questioned and criticized by others, and recognize the limitations of their own vision and depth of thought.

It is a sense of responsibility to stand up and criticize the government when it makes improper decisions and acts. It is also a sense of responsibility to learn to restrain when the interests of the country and the nation require, they said. 

Global Times