CHANGCHUN, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- Yamazaki Yumiko learned a new Chinese word -- nixing, meaning travelling against the flow.
A taxi driver taught her the word when he heard the Japanese teacher flew back to China on Jan. 26 when many foreigners were evacuated amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Teaching at a training school in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province, Yamazaki heard of the news about the epidemic when she was on Lunar New Year holiday in Japan. Both her son in Japan and her husband in China asked her not to return, but she insisted.
Yamazaki said she could never forget the banners saying "Japan, stay strong" and the college students that made donations in Changchun streets when Japan was hit by a massive earthquake in 2011.
"Although I cannot 'nixing' to the front line like Chinese medics to treat the infected patients, at least I can be with my students and give them some confidence," she said.
By the end of Wednesday, a total of 78,497 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection had been reported in Chinese mainland, and 2,744 people had died of the disease, according to national health authorities.
Born in Sendai, Yamazaki came to Changchun to study Chinese in 1995 and has lived there ever since.
In her words, Changchun is her second hometown. "How can I escape when my hometown is in difficulty?"
Yamazaki was impressed with the "China speed" demonstrated in the fight against the outbreak of the disease. To avoid cross-infection, her residential community was closed off overnight, with guards measuring body temperatures of each resident at the entrance. She was given a pass with which she was allowed to go out to buy necessities.
She joined local volunteers in disinfecting the community every day.
Spraying disinfectant was not easy in the biting cold. "Sometimes, the breeze would blow the mist spray onto our body, forming a thin layer of ice," she said. "But I feel proud that I can play my own part as a foreign volunteer in fighting the epidemic."
On the traditional Lantern Festival earlier this month, the foreign affairs office of the local government delivered her face masks, disinfectant and liquid soap.
The office also keeps the foreigners living in Changchun updated every day with the latest epidemic information via instant message or WeChat both in Chinese and English.
Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, the Chinese government has attached high importance to the safety of foreigners in China.
The National Immigration Administration has issued a guideline for novel coronavirus prevention in six languages including English, Russian, French, German, Japanese and Korean, for foreigners in China.
Now that the training school where she teaches postponed the opening, Yamazaki meets her students online.
In one class, they talked about "China speed." She told her students she was amazed by how two hospitals with a total of 2,600 beds were built in less than two weeks.
"Compared with the SARS period in 2003, the Chinese government this time has become more transparent in information disclosure, and more capable in mobilizing its citizens," she said.
On Wednesday, when Jilin Province reported no new infected cases for the third day, it joined many other provinces in China in lowering its public health emergency response from Level I to Level II.
