This visual essay is a documentation of a series of morbid short videos circulating in local Wuhan chat groups at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, attached with video screenshots and adjacent chatlogs. The data was collected during the author's home quarantine in Wuhan in early 2020. This visual essay aims at viscerally exhibiting the circulation of emotions ranging from anxiety to boredom to lethargy via group conversations surrounding these short videos. Hopefully, they can serve as an archive and a miniature of a societal meltdown that is readily forgotten.

中文翻译：

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短视频作为情感传染：（解锁）病毒视频上的微信聊天记录

这篇视觉文章记录了 COVID-19 大流行初期在武汉当地聊天群中流传的一系列病态短视频，并附有视频截图和相邻的聊天记录。这些数据是作者于 2020 年初在武汉居家隔离期间收集的。这篇视觉文章旨在通过围绕这些短视频的小组对话，发自内心地展示从焦虑到无聊到嗜睡的情绪循环。希望它们可以作为一个档案和一个容易被遗忘的社会崩溃的缩影。