Editor's note: China Daily reporters look back at the events that affected them the most last year.

Wang Xiaodong conducts an interview about the treatment of COVID-19 patients at Hubei Provincial Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine in Wuhan, Hubei province, in February. (ZHU XINGXIN / CHINA DAILY)

The people of Wuhan have my undying respect

By Wang Xiaodong

Perhaps one of the most unexpected events last year was the global COVID-19 pandemic, which shows no signs of abating even after infecting more than 80 million people across the world and changing everyone's life in so many ways.

As a health reporter, I have closely followed the news about the novel coronavirus from the very beginning.

I have been most impressed by how quickly every outbreak in China－including the one in Wuhan, Hubei province, which was seriously hit early last year－has been effectively brought under control.

When I arrived in Wuhan at the end of January, several days after the start of the national mobilization to fight the epidemic, the outbreak was escalating rapidly.

In February, at the outbreak's height, thousands of new cases were reported every day in the city.

The number quickly fell to zero in mid-March, which meant the epidemic had effectively been brought under control in Wuhan and China in a little more than two months.

Behind this success were the heroic and tireless efforts of hundreds of thousands of people in Wuhan who were engaged in epidemic prevention and control, along with support from the whole country.

But on top of those efforts was the central leadership's determination to make people's health and lives the top priority, even at a heavy economic cost.

After the lockdown in Wuhan was lifted in April, several scattered outbreaks on a much smaller scale occurred in other cities, but they were all quickly controlled by strategies such as mass testing and contact tracing.

Global cooperation will be crucial in the fight against the worldwide pandemic.

Early in March, doctors from Tongji Hospital, a leading establishment in Wuhan, held a video conference with their peers from Niguarda Hospital, a top medical center in Milan, Italy, to share their knowledge of the diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 patients, plus disease prevention and control measures.

During the March 4 discussion, Zhou Ning, associate professor of cardiovascular diseases at Tongji Hospital, warned of the outbreak expanding in Italy.

He suggested the immediate implementation of strict control and prevention measures to avert an outbreak as serious as the one in Wuhan.

After the conference, Wang Daowen, director of the Chinese hospital's cardiovascular department, made a statement.

"Combating the virus is the common task of all humankind, and we must intensify our sharing of knowledge to cope with it," Wang said.

Following the online exchange, many similar experience-sharing activities were held online in other hospitals in Wuhan. It is disheartening, however, to see that the global pandemic has deteriorated, despite doctors' efforts.

Looking back at 2020, I sometimes cannot help wondering whether the global pandemic could have been avoided if every country had taken responsible and resolute measures and made lives and health a priority from the start.

Moreover, what would the effect have been if every person had temporarily sacrificed freedom of movement for the good of the whole, and if stigmatization, conspiracy theories and disinformation had not stood in the way of the fight?

In retrospect, I have even more admiration for the people of Wuhan.

Just a few days after human-to-human coronavirus transmission was confirmed, the city of more than 10 million residents was cut off from the rest of China and the world in a successful bid to contain the outbreak.

The lockdown, unprecedented in human history, started two days before Spring Festival, aka Lunar New Year's Day, the most important traditional holiday for Chinese people.

Wuhan's wide, deserted streets lined with lifeless skyscrapers gave me a surreal feeling when all I had to do was file reports, but they also gave me more faith in the city's ability to conquer the virus.

Cao Yin asks ministers a question during the third session of the 13th National People's Congress in Beijing in May. (WANG JING / CHINA DAILY)

Justice must never be allowed to arrive too late

By Cao Yin

But as the outbreak pressed the "pause" button on the world, it made me understand more clearly the values I should uphold and the things that should not be forgotten in my work and life.

Last year, several people who had been held in wrongful detention for decades were acquitted because the evidence in their cases was not strong enough to ensure their convictions.

Of them, the case of Zhang Yuhuan aroused the most attention and left the deepest impression on me.

Zhang, from Jiangxi province, had his name cleared on Aug 4 after it was ruled that there was insufficient evidence for his intentional homicide conviction. He had been detained for about 27 years.

When the 53-year-old, dubbed "China's longest-serving wrongfully convicted inmate", was freed, he returned home with his older brother.

As Zhang's story triggered outrage, the spotlight was cast on his ex-wife Song Xiaonyu and her struggle to help him appeal, while also raising two toddlers and battling cancer.

In August and September, Zhang and Song were two hot names on Chinese social media platforms.

A video clip circulated in which Song said Zhang owed her a hug the next time they met.

In an online statement, Song said she had left their village, traveled to Guangdong province as a migrant worker and then remarried a few years after Zhang had been detained.

She took that course of action because she needed money, not only to raise the two sons she had with Zhang and to help him appeal, but also to pay for treatment to remove noncancerous growths from her uterus.

"I didn't want to become a financial burden on the Zhang family," she wrote.

In October, the court awarded Zhang compensation of 4.8 million yuan (US$738,754).

Song said she never supported Zhang's appeal to profit financially.

Her statement and response gained her great respect, but Wang Fei, the lawyer who acted on Zhang's behalf, felt that Song and her ex-husband deserved much more.

He lauded the public's great support and determination to uphold justice, and he suggested that compensation levels should be raised.

He added that he wanted to see those responsible for the wrongful conviction held to account and for Zhang to be accepted back into society.

"Zhang was isolated from the world for quite a long time," Wang said. He was concerned that his client would not be able to integrate into today's fast-developing internet era, and whether he would receive social assistance, such as psychological help.

In light of the harsh, but touching story, Wang called for more help to be available when people like Zhang meet with overwhelming difficulties.

He added that punishing those who made the mistake and highlighting the need to reject evidence obtained illegally, such as under duress, would be an effective deterrent to wrongful convictions.

In the greater scheme of things, 27 years may not seem a long time. However, they should have been the best years of Zhang's life.

As such, it is obvious that we should recognize the importance of upholding justice in each and every case.

Looking back on the 10 years I have spent reporting legal stories, I remember being impressed by the words of a senior judge when she was addressing new workers in her court.

"We must be serious and cautious in handling every dispute, as sometimes we are not dealing with small things-rather, it may be someone's life," she said.

I believe that if every judicial professional and ordinary person keeps those words in mind, justice will never arrive too late.

Yang Wanli meets children at a school in the Three-Rivers-Source National Park, Qinghai province, where environmental awareness classes are a regular feature of the curriculum. (PHOTO / CHINA DAILY)

China has started on a long journey

ByYang Wanli

For me, this long period at home was definitely a nightmare.

Struggling to balance work and my son-an experienced snuggler who was just 18 months old-in addition to several months without traveling outside to conduct face-to-face interviews or be on the spot for big news stories almost drove me crazy.

It ended when I received an invitation from the National Forestry and Grassland Administration to visit the Three-Rivers-Source National Park in the northwestern province of Qinghai, one of China's 10 pilot national parks.

In July, I packed for my first business trip of the year and headed to the first and largest of the pilots.

It covers 123,100 square kilometers, which poses great challenges for the management.

The park is managed by three offices, one each for protection of the sources of the Yangtze, Yellow and Lancang rivers. However, time limitations meant I only managed to visit the first two.

Unlike national parks in Western countries, China's facilities prioritize protection over commercial exploitation.

Only a very limited number of tourists can visit them, and they need special permission.

My tour was exclusive, but the trip was not as pleasant as I had expected because I initially suffered from the high altitude.

In Madoi county, near the office that manages the Yellow River source, I stayed in a hotel at an altitude of 4,200 meters.

I was tortured by a rapid heartbeat and headaches, and I vomited all night.

At 3 am, I thought I would have to return to Beijing immediately or I would die.

But a two-hour nap helped to relieve the headache, and I decided to continue the trip.

The amazing views I saw over the following days proved it was the smartest decision I made in 2020.

As we approached the two sources, I drank in the scenery of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, also known as the "Roof of the World". Tibetan donkeys roamed the grassland, the flutter of black-necked cranes' wings echoed around small lakes dotted across the plateau and eagles zigzagged across the sky.

The beauty of the Eling and Zhaling lakes-the "Yellow River's two sister lakes"-overwhelmed me.

They cover a combined area of 1,200 square kilometers, with water the color of kallaite. Wild birds caught fish in the gentle waves.

By Eling Lake, I met a group of herders-turned-environmental conservationists.

The group's leader told me about how the environment had improved in recent years, thanks to the efforts of the government and local people.

He said wild animals had been seen more frequently since environmental measures helped turn the mountains green.

China is making concerted efforts to protect natural resources and improve the environment.

What I saw and heard during my trip was a reflection of the measures put in place for the benefit of the country's 1.3 billion-plus people.

The 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) attaches great importance to the protection of natural resources and the environment, indicating the nation's commitment to sustainable development.

In November, the central government released long-term objectives for the country to achieve socialist modernization by 2035.

Building China into a beautiful country is one of those aims.

We know it will be a long journey, but we have already taken the all-important first steps.

Zhang Zhihao plays with his son, Yinuo, while working on a story at home during the COVID-19 outbreak. (CAO YING / CHINA DAILY)

Passion, patience, persistence are key to parenting

By Zhang Zhihao

I never thought that being a science and technology reporter would help me to become a better father and vice versa.

In March, as the COVID-19 outbreak became a global pandemic, my son Yinuo was born.

The prospect of impending fatherhood filled me with excitement and anxiety because I felt woefully under-qualified to be a father even at the best of times, let alone during the worst public health crisis of the century.

My early taste of fatherhood is best summarized as fighting a war on two fronts. On the one hand, I am writing science-based articles defending China's COVID-19 response efforts against an onslaught of rumors and speculation from home and abroad.

On the other, I am safeguarding my family's sanity by taking care of a wailing, fighting, dirty-diaper-making machine.

Self-quarantine turned registration and paperwork for newborns, routine health checks, vaccinations and other small but vital tasks into Herculean undertakings that could only be tackled with meticulous precautions and preparation.

But they were nothing compared to the night feeds, which included jumping out of bed every two hours every night to cries of hunger.

The ordeal gave me a profound appreciation of the real heroes in my life: my parents.

A large part of my fatherhood blues can be attributed to me trying to be as good a father to my son as my father has been to me.

Given that, I was quite surprised to hear my father say he was even less prepared than I was when he too faced the prospect of becoming a father.

"The nature of fatherhood is that you are doing something you are unqualified to do, but you only become qualified by doing it. In some ways, this is analogous to you being a science reporter. It's natural that you can't explain scientific findings as authoritatively as scientists, but you can only be good at your job if you keep learning and trying," he said.

"To be more qualified at work and home, you need to have a strong passion for both, only then will you be motivated to keep improving. But more important, you must also be patient and have faith that your efforts will reward you eventually.

"Raising a child is like doing basic science: In the moment, the hardship may feel like an eternity, but with unremitting passion and dedication, you may be pleasantly surprised by how the future will pan out. Then you can look back and realize that without all the hardship, the joy at the end of the journey would never be quite as sweet."

Li Lei visits a museum to file a report in Arxan, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, in July. (PHOTO / CHINA DAILY)

Basic measures can help address essential needs

By Li Le

But that does not diminish their importance as "aha" moments for young reporters like me.

On a sultry afternoon in September, I was sent to cover an advisory session in Beijing that was focused on issues surrounding poverty alleviation.

The attendees included some of the most powerful and influential figures in the field.

They included Liu Yongfu, head of the nation's top poverty-relief agency, who commands a sprawling network of money and human resources that turbo-charge targeted programs in far-flung communities.

Invitations had also been extended to prominent economists and sociologists, such as Zhang Yaguang of Peking University and Ye Jingzhong of China Agricultural University.

At the time, the COVID-19 outbreak had largely been stamped out domestically, allowing the government's antipoverty drive to resume at full pace.

With victory on the horizon, Liu's agency was hatching follow-up assistance measures for rural regions.

Only a handful of reporters attended the hourslong policy debate at the agency's headquarters, partly because the event, unlike news conferences, was only advisory in nature.

I attended primarily to exchange business cards with big names, but I left the event with more valuable insights than contacts.

Some of the thoughts I jotted down on my laptop helped form the core messages I have been attempting to convey to a global readership: messages that have been downplayed, if not omitted completely by some other media.

I have listed some of the things I took away from the meeting.

First: The People's Republic of China started curbing poverty almost as soon as it was founded, though the benefits only started emerging much later, after the nation embraced sweeping reforms in the late 1970s.

Second: The poverty-relief efforts that started in late 2012 were an attempt to involve the rural poor in the fast-advancing national economy through the "hands of government", after the nation's exhilarating economic growth in recent decades had failed to eradicate extreme poverty on its own.

As a matter of fact, nearly 100 million farmers were labeled "impoverished" in 2012.

Moreover, a great many poverty-relief programs cannot be assessed simply by assessments of how cost-effective they were.

For example, some roads built to bridge deep ravines and connect scattered communities are not expected to return the outlay, at least not in the short term.

However, the projects make sense because they provide greater access to services and opportunities in far-flung regions.

As I looked up from my laptop with many thoughts bubbling, a line of gilded Chinese characters grabbed my attention because they outlined one of the PRC's founding principles: "Eliminating poverty, improving livelihoods and realizing the common wealth are the essential requirements of socialism."

Luo Wangshu (right) talks with a villager who lives at the source of the Fenhe River, the Yellow River's second-largest tributary, in Shanxi province in September. (ZHANG LINHU / CHINA DAILY)

We all worry about the people we love

By Luo Wangshu

At the beginning of last year I planned to travel to my hometown of Chongqing from Beijing, where I live and work, as often as possible.

That aim was one of my New Year's resolutions, because my mother had undergone surgery for lung cancer and my 93-year-old grandmother had been diagnosed with heart failure and was hospitalized for nearly two months.

I wanted to see the two women I love most in the world much more often.

However, I only saw them twice, in June and October, because of the COVID-19 epidemic.

On Jan 21-two days before Wuhan, Hubei province, announced a lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19-I decided to cancel my trip.

It was a very hard decision. I worried about my family. I wanted to go home to see how they had recovered.

Messages and video chats can lie. I worried about if they or I were hit by the novel coronavirus, but I could not be with them. I thought I would prefer to spend the rest of my days with them if the virus could not be controlled.

But on the other hand, I was worried about bringing the virus back home.

I also worried about my 8-month-old son boarding an airplane because he refused to wear a face mask back then.

Now, he is used to it, but I feel very sorry for a young generation that will have to get used to wearing face masks.

Although it sounded like being prepared for the worst-case scenario-death-I still hoped my loved ones would have a better chance to live. I am a hypocrite at the end.

Millions and millions of people from China and abroad shared the same concerns as me last year-worries about their loved ones, people they'd only ever seen on TV and even enemies.

COVID-19 has made people worry about all kinds of connections in the world.

Being an editor, I read about other peoples' worries on my computer screen, including a Wuhan doctor who ate her birthday cake alone while she worried about her husband and sons.

The cake, ordered by her husband, arrived along with the bad news that he, also a doctor, had been infected with the virus.

He said he had planned to celebrate her birthday in the hospital with her, but did not expect to be there as a patient being treated.

I thought that in addition to feeling fearful, he must have worried about his family while lying in the hospital.

I also read about a senior college student in Wuhan, who returned to the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region for the winter vacation, but had to order a delivery service at the end of June to pack up his "college life" as he could not return to campus because of COVID-19.

Since many of his college friends were in Wuhan, he worried about their health when the city was an epidemic hot spot early last year.

Later he worried about how he might have few chances to see many of them because he had chosen to stay in Xinjiang and it is so far away.

He never thought he would not be able to say a proper farewell to his college life, dormmates, friends, girls he had crushes on and moreso, his youth in general.

I worried about my colleagues, since many of them were out there during the pandemic, taking the risk of being exposed to the virus while doing their jobs.

In August, I was back on the front line. My first trip was to Wuhan, the heroic city. I heard all the stories filled with concerns during the epidemic and afterwards.

People worry because they care, they love, they sympathize. That's how we show love and humanity.