Fruit Bat [果蝠]

Nanxiang’s “Fruit Bat [果蝠] is a Chinese short story described by literary critics as one of the earliest works of COVID-19 pandemic fiction in China. It is about a Life Sciences professor, Liu Chuanxin, and a Chinese professor, Xiao Xiaojing, traveling to an orchard in Town S to save a colony of fruit bats from being exterminated, as fruit bats were suspected to be carriers of COVID-19. Along with the owner of the orchard Mou Jiaxin, they visit the cave of fruit bats. Chuanxin accidentally disturbs the bats with his flashlight, and tens of thousands of bats flock to the mouth of the cave, scaring Xiaojing, but the bats ultimately prove to be harmless. Jiaxin then serves them fruit from the orchard, which they remark tastes better than the fruit from Shenzhen, a major Chinese city that the two protagonists come from. They discuss possible reasons for why the fruit from the orchard tastes exceptional, with Xiaojing guessing it is a combination of water and air quality, sunlight, temperature difference, and natural fertilizer. Chuanxin explains that the bats play the most important role, as their droppings are rich in nutrients, and they pollinate the diverse plant species in the orchard more effectively than honeybees because of their large population. “A large number of fruit bats gather and live in the cave, and they spread pollen while consuming nectar and pollen. To them it’s for their own benefit, but subjectively it benefits everyone, and Jiaxin enjoys a bountiful harvest of delicious fruit. This is an ecology you could only dream of” (Nanxiang), says Chuanxin. When the two main characters return to Shenzhen, Chuanxin meets with Minister Zhan, the Minister of Forestry in Town S, who refuses to suspend the extermination operation out of concern for his position. Fearing for the fate of the bats, Jiaxin invites experts to survey the bat cave, but upon their arrival, they find all the bats have escaped.

The story is set during the pandemic, amid the backdrop of rumors and theories that the practice of eating wild animals, such as fruit bats, was the initial cause of the COVID-19 outbreak. While the author does not discredit this theory, he cautions against the mass extermination of species suspected to be disease carriers by presenting fruit bats as harmless creatures that live in isolated, inaccessible areas, thus posing little direct threats to public health. Xiaojing’s character, who lives in the city and has a literary background, represents the city-born layperson reader who regularly consumes fresh produce with little exposure to the natural processes that contribute to their growth. Through the perspective of the life scientist Chuanxin, the author discusses fruit bats’ ecological value and their central role in maintaining the ecological balance of the orchard. He emphasizes the importance of accurate scientific knowledge that balances public health and environmental consequences and implicitly condemns those who perpetuate rumors without correct understanding of either epidemiology or ecology and spread panic, which prompts the authorities to make rash decisions to exterminate essential animal species. Xiaojing’s willingness to learn about the important role of bats from Chuanxin, the expert, also serves as a call for the public to educate themselves from reputable sources before forming opinions or taking action about pressing issues, especially during the pandemic where new information proliferated and people were gripped in a state of fear of the virus. The messages conveyed in this story provide insight into the pressing debates on COVID-19 public health policies during the first few months of the pandemic in China and underscore a fictional narrative that introduces a lesser considered ecological dimension to the more prominent epidemiological narrative of disease carriers.