Chinese President Xi Jinping and residents of Wuhan: The city's inhabitants are not ready to cheer their leader's handling of the crisis they are suffering through. (Nikkei montage; source photos from Xinhua/Kyodo and Reuters)

Campaign to 'thank' Xi Jinping flatly rejected by Wuhan citizens

Communist Party's propaganda efforts powerless in face of coronavirus anger

KATSUJI NAKAZAWA, Nikkei senior staff writer

March 12, 2020 04:00 JST

TOKYO -- Chinese President Xi Jinping entered the city of Wuhan on Tuesday for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak, eager to show the world that the country had turned a corner in its battle with the new virus.

Yet, despite the sharp reduction in new cases, Wuhan was buzzing for a separate reason.