International Journal on Criminology Volume 8, Number 1, Winter 2020/2021 | Page 12

International Journal on Criminology
and the end of five thousand years of dynastic power . Since then , the “ double ten ” ( tenth day of the tenth month ) has been celebrated as a national holiday , but the central government also views the city with suspicion as “ indicative of the signs from heaven to the Emperor .”
On June 11 , 1938 , the Japanese imperial army attacked the provincial capital to meet strong resistance and suffer its first defeat . The fighting lasted four months . Wuhan will remain like Verdun or the Chinese Stalingrad .
In 1967 , China is in the midst of a Cultural Revolution . Once again , Wuhan stands out for the army uprisings and bloody confrontations it experiences . Mao is forced to travel to the area in order to restore order to the disorder he has caused . The Wuhan incident will remain a turning point in the “ red ” chronicle .
The existence of a P4 laboratory , not far from the market , is revealed to the general public in April 2020 . Largely built by France , this institute is dedicated to the study of “ class 4 pathogenic ” microorganisms , which are highly dangerous and lack a vaccine or treatment . Like its forty or so counterparts around the world , it requires maximum safety conditions . Have they been met ? This question will allow for guesses and accusations to be made .
A secret laboratory
Founded in 1956 and qualified as an institute of microbiology between 1962 and 1978 , the Wuhan Institute of Virology is a research center administered by the Academy of Sciences . Located in Jiangxia district , it has been home to China ’ s first P4 laboratory since 2015 .
An anti-seismic bunker of 3000 square meters spread over four levels , the enormous Fort Knox-type building stands in the Zhengdian industrial zone , some 30 kilometers south of Wuhan . But this clever undertaking is also the result of a diplomatic agreement .
In 2003 , China was confronted with the severe acute respiratory syndrome ( SARS ) pandemic , an infectious disease caused by a coronavirus , SARS-CoV , and transmitted from animals to humans . President Hu Jintao then asked France , which had lent him P3 mobile laboratories , to help him build an integrated P3 and a P4 .
In his book France-China , les liaisons dangereuses , Antoine Izambard recalls the background to this negotiation : “ The powerful Chinese Academy of Sciences , the equivalent of the CNRS ( and in particular the main shareholder of the world leader in computer sales , the Chinese giant Lenovo ), announced in
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