Some other photos on show convey positive attitudes, such as images of people trying to pass time while stuck inside.

Video-conferencing apps, for example, gained popularity. For years, Beijinger Wang Guobin would have a drinking party with friends during the Spring Festival holiday. His photo, Cheers with the Cellphone, shows how the annual tradition became an online celebration, as they toasted via videoconference.

Tsinghua University Art Museum deputy director Su Dan says the massive amount of images received form "an integrated and complex … sketch portrait" of the global health crisis.