Shaanxi Folk Opera: Naive Woman

A former lawyer Ms ZHANG Zhan (張展), one of the citizen reporters, travelled to Wuhan, China, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, to report on the crisis in early February 2019. She has since been charged for “public disturbance”, as later reported, also for “fabricating lies” by the CCP regime, and currently is under arrest. Her case is with the Pudong District Court in Shanghai. But she insists she has done nothing wrong, and has now been on hunger strike for five months.

My translation of the piece of Shaanxi folk opera, dedicated to her and written by her supporters in China, is to draw the attention of the world community. Ms ZHANG Zhan should be acquitted on all counts immediately, and compensated accordingly. Yiyan Han (c), 2020-11-13 (minor modification 2020-11-15)

Woman in the r. Wei basin doesn’t like to marry out
O! ZHANG Zhan travelled far away from her hometown on the south bank
She, artless and naive, went to Wuhan where the damn pandemic began
‘n’ spoke out a few words as a person with humanity
but soon had problems with authority, hey hey hey

We people in the r. Wei basin, in the South Bay
belt out our folk opera with every bit of energy
to call you ZHANG Zhan to come home ‘n’ look after ya daddy
Please stop ya hunger strike, you’re too outspoken and stubborn
You’d have achieved nothing if you went to heaven, um um um

Footnote: The words, "artless, naive, outspoken, and stubborn", that I use to interpret the meaning of “瓜” and “傻” in the Chinese folk opera should be understood positively. Because Ms ZHANG Zhan is a simple, pure, and brave beautiful young lady, trying to do good things but unfortunately living in a cruel and brutal society that lacks basic freedom and human rights.