Residents in a Wuhan, China neighbourhood shouted "fake, fake, it's all fake" while a senior government official was visiting the district.

Inspecting neighbourhood committee

The incident took place on Thursday morning, March 5, during Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan's tour of the Cuiyuan community in Qingshan district.

According to DW News, Sun toured the West Bridge community in Jianghan district as well.

The 69-year-old was checking in on the neighbourhood committee, who are responsible for getting necessities to residents, such as food, vegetables and medicine.

"Fake! Everything's fake!"

Videos uploaded to both Chinese social media site Weibo and Twitter show residents shouting "fake, everything's fake".

Today vice prime minister Sun Chunlan #孙春兰 visited Wuhan Qingshan Kaiyuan residential community. It’s meant to be a PR show. Residents were not allowed to come out, but things went out of control. They started shouting, “Fake! Everything is fake!” #假的 #全都是假的 pic.twitter.com/aOxpY3tMfp

— Yaxue Cao (@YaxueCao) March 5, 2020

Shouts of "formalism" (xing shi zhu yi, 形式主义) could even be heard.

The term is used to refer to ineffectual measures put in place by government officials just for the sake of appearances.

According to local media Vista, the residents meant to convey their unhappiness with government workers who pretend to do a good job in front of their superiors, while failing to do so in reality.

State media reported on the incident

About four hours later, the central government reportedly called for a meeting to look into the matter, and urged local officials to deliver essential items to residents "down to the last 1km".

State broadcaster CCTV reported on the same night that Sun has requested local officials to investigate the issue, and told them not to avoid the problem, to reject "formalism", and to resolve problems using pragmatic ways, in order to bring satisfaction to the people.

Chinese state media, such as People's Daily, have not shied away from posting the videos as well -- an effort which might be an attempt to show that the government is responding to public discontent.

【#武漢人向中央領導大喊之後】5日，中央指導組在 #武漢 考察。網傳視頻顯示，有居民從家裡向指導組大喊“假的”，反映社區假裝送菜送肉給業主，實際工作不到位的問題。副總理孫春蘭當即要求深入調查，不要掩飾矛盾。目前，武漢已派人對該社區逐一上門調查，了解居民訴求。https://t.co/8XRY6faClw pic.twitter.com/VS9HlE06id

— 人民日報 People's Daily (@PDChinese) March 5, 2020

By choosing to cover the incident, state media outlets could also provide their own narratives on the issues, and help direct public discussion.

"It's fake! It's fake!" shout residents of a community in #COVID19 epicenter Wuhan in a viral video on China’s social media. They have accused property management of cheating them by only appearing to provide promised necessities. Investigation is underway https://t.co/kzq4gbB4RM pic.twitter.com/0ujObfedR8

— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) March 6, 2020

Government promised to resolve the issue

Government-affiliated WeChat account Taoran Notes wrote that the videos posted to social media were true.

It added: "It is only when problems are faced head-on that the government can receive understanding and support from the people".

East Day reported that local officials subsequently paid a visit to about 3,000 households to better understand the conditions on the ground.

Pictures taken on March 5 show supermarket workers preparing bags of vegetables to be sent to residents.

All residential communities in Wuhan have been placed under lock down since Feb. 12, preventing residents from leaving their homes.

While neighbourhood committee workers are tasked to attend to the residents' needs and to provide them with daily essentials, they have revealed that they are overwhelmed by the amount of work they had to do.

Commenters identify with local Wuhan residents

Social media users joined in the call for government workers to work for the people, instead of sucking up to their superiors.

"To reflect a problem through such a method is truly pathetic. This shows that whether or not something is put up for appearances has to be decided by the people. The higher-ups have no way of telling what's 'formalism' and what's not."

(Sarcastically) "Shut up! You've disturbed my Chinese dream!"

"Isn't 'formalism' normal here?"

"Since I was young, aren't all these inspections done for show? From the village primary schools, to the provincial secondary schools, to the universities in big cities, to the small communities, and to the companies, such inspections have always been this way. But this is my first time seeing someone actually ruining the show on the spot. That's brave. Hopefully no revenge would be taken against them (by the local officials)."

"This is the result of officials just being responsible for the top management."

"The honest and kind regular folks are finally shouting (speaking up)."

"Strong and resilient Wuhan residents."

"Must have been embarrassing to be by the leader's side."

They expressed their surprise at such coverage of public discontent by the state media as well.

"Hahahahahaha. This kind of news was actually released?"

"I thought I could only see such news outside of the wall (Great Firewall of China)."

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