Li Wenliang died on Feb. 6 last year. On Feb. 7, people placed a photo of Dr. Li Wenliang and flowers outside Wuhan Central Hospital in Hubei province to express their condolences. (Getty Images)
At the beginning of 2021, the outbreak of the Chinese Communist virus (Wuhan pneumonia) in many mainland provinces is rapidly heating up. Today (Feb. 6) marks the one-year anniversary of the death of Dr. Li Wenliang, the “whistle blower” of the virus. His last Weibo post has become a “crying wall,” with a large number of comments from netizens expressing their thoughts and feelings for the deceased. As of 4:00 p.m. today, the topic of “the first anniversary of Dr. Li Wenliang’s death” had entered the top three of Sina Weibo’s hot search list.
Li Wenliang’s last Weibo post was on February 1, 2020, and it read, “Today the nucleic acid test result is positive, the dust has settled, and the diagnosis is finally confirmed.” On the evening of Feb. 6, 2020, at the age of 34, Li Wenliang died from a Communist virus infection.
A large number of netizens left messages on this microblog today, “I hope you are doing well over there.” “It’s been a year, the Wuhan city government owes you an apology so far, but the people will always miss you.” “Actually, we living people are quite tired, Dr. Li thank you.” “Remembering Li Wenliang, promoting government information disclosure and opposing the abuse of public power.”
Another netizen left a comment under the topic “One year anniversary of Dr. Li Wenliang’s death,” saying, “Dr. Li Wenliang has been gone for almost a whole year. The number of comments on his last Weibo post before his death has exceeded one million. It has turned into a ‘crying wall’ for nearly a million people.”
“After a year, did you (CCP) also acquiesce that Dr. Li died on Feb. 6? Do you all remember the tweet from a year ago that kept deleting comments?”
“If he didn’t leave on the 6th, how could today be the first anniversary, but there are too many people who seal their mouths and close their eyes.”
“That night staring gripping the heart kept brushing the phone, huge anger was interrupted by true and false information, and finally could only turn into mourning.”
“Spring is here, may it be well. A healthy society should not have only one voice.”
“Won’t CCTV apologize? It’s Time to set a day of truth for all people.”
“Last year, today, brushing up on the news overnight, some people said they had died, some said they were still being resuscitated …… whether it was ‘being resuscitated and saying the person had died’ or ‘the person have died but say they are still being resuscitated’, it is incomprehensible behavior.”
On the night of February 6, 2020, several media people revealed the news of Li Wenliang’s death, and a number of official media also reported it in the social media. However, Wuhan Central Hospital then tweeted that Li Wenliang was critically ill and was still being resuscitated. However, a few hours later, the news of Li Wenliang’s death was finally released.
The news quickly ignited the WeChat microblogosphere and shot to the top of the hot search list, with full screens of grief and anger. According to statistics, by 11:16 p.m. on the 6th, “Dr. Li Wenliang passed away” topped the Weibo hot search list with over 20 million searches, 540 million views and 730,000 discussions.
At that time, some netizens disclosed that after Dr. Li Wenliang’s death, the hospital had put on Yeke’s membrane for symbolic resuscitation in order to appease the anger of millions of netizens. This “political resuscitation” was an immediate cause for public outrage, and a wave of calls for “freedom of speech” quickly spread across Weibo.
The Internet was filled with laments, anger and accountability for the authorities’ cover-up of the Epidemic, and demands for a public apology to Li Wenliang. The backlash was so strong that the Chinese Communist Party was unprepared for it, and authorities quickly took control.
Today marks the first anniversary of Li Wenliang’s death. Li Wei Ao, a mainland journalist who was at the scene of Li Wenliang’s resuscitation, wrote an article on Feb. 5 revealing that “although the official announcement of his death was made at 2:58 a.m. on Feb. 7, 2020 …… in the interviews we saw and heard at the scene of his resuscitation and in multiple channels, I insist that Dr. Lee had sadly passed away on the night of February 6, 2020.”
On December 30, 2019, Li Wenliang posted a message about the South China Seafood Market epidemic in a group of classmates. Because he saw a patient’s test report that showed a high confidence positive indicator for Sars (SARS) coronavirus was detected, he sent a warning message out of the perspective of alerting fellow clinicians to pay attention to protection.
In early January 2020, eight Wuhan physicians, including Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist at Wuhan Central Hospital, were caught by Wuhan Public Security as typical rumor spreaders for warning that SARS had appeared in Wuhan in their WeChat circle of friends, and Li Wenliang was also approached by Public Security for admonishment.
The epidemic then spiraled out of control in Wuhan until the evening of January 20, when Zhong Nanshan, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, admitted for the first time that the virus could be “passed from person to person.” At 2 a.m. on the 23rd, Wuhan officials suddenly declared a city closure.
Under public pressure, on January 28, the Supreme Court of the Communist Party of China issued an article that appeared to clear the names of eight “rumor-mongers”, including Li Wenliang. The eight “rumor mongers” then turned into heroes.
On Feb. 6, Li Wenliang died. Under the pressure of public opinion, the Chinese Communist authorities set up an investigation team and eventually put the blame on the relevant police station, making public opinion even more furious. Since then, the CCP authorities have again resorted to the “stability maintenance” tactic of “vindication”: official condolences, huge compensation, and honorary titles such as “martyr” have come and gone.
Li Wei Ao’s article said, “Li Wenliang’s death is undoubtedly a great tragedy,” but Li Wenliang left a message before he died, saying “a healthy society should not have only one voice,” which may also be a response to The irony of “whistle blowers” receiving a “letter of admonition”.
Over the past year, however, other Chinese “whistle blowers” concerned about the Communist Party’s viral epidemic have been suppressed by the Chinese authorities.
Since last February, at least three citizen journalists have been detained, disappeared and sentenced to prison for documenting the outbreak. Currently, Chen Qiushi, a mainland lawyer, is still missing; Fang Bin, a citizen journalist from Wuhan, has not been heard from; and Zhang Zhan, a citizen journalist from Shanghai, was illegally sentenced to four years in prison by the authorities on December 28 last year.
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