Story By: Lee Bullen, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency:  Newsflash

AsiaWire/Hunan People’s Government

This viral Chinese children’s song performed by a boy in heavy makeup about praising frontline medics amid the COVID-19 crisis has been slammed by trolls for making light of the outbreak.

The songwriter Jiang Junrong, who works as a professor at the Hunan Normal University musical school, said he does not mind if netizens do not like the song.

His children’s song praises medics at the Fangcang makeshift hospitals in the eastern Chinese province of Hubei as they help patients infected with COVID-19.

However, some people complained that the lyrics are “inappropriate” and fail to teach youngsters about the gravity of the situation.

In the viral video, viewed by over 7 million netizens, a boy in heavy makeup sings lyrics such as “how magical Fangcang hospitals are, they treat disease and save lives while teaching dance moves. Versatile doctors and nurses each lead a piece of song.”

An opinion piece in The Beijing News said the song strayed too far from reality and that artists should “shoulder responsibility in telling the true story of the viral disaster impacting adults to the children, to educate them about life itself and public health in a more appropriate fashion”.

Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute in Shanghai, told local media: “For children living in hard-hit regions such as Wuhan, their families could be heavily affected by COVID-19, maybe some of their family members were quarantined.

“Educating children on how to view the epidemic needs to better resonate with their true feelings.”

However, not everyone thought the song was inappropriate and one Weibo user said: “Come on, it’s a children’s song, it is supposed to be joyful.”

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