On December 21, 2020, Chinese pro-democracy activist Ding Jianqiang died in Los Angeles after contracting the “new crown” virus. Shortly after his death, a large number of pro-communist social media accounts, self-published media, and Chinese websites began to publish abusive and personal attacks against him, and attempted to attack the U.S. healthcare system as a result.
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At 1:00 a.m. on December 21, 2020, 55-year-old Chinese pro-democracy activist Ding Jianqiang died at Los Angeles County General Hospital (LAC+USC Medical Center) after being infected with the “new crown” virus. On the same day, the National Committee of the Chinese Democratic Party, the Democratic China Front and the Association for the Study of Constitutionalism for the Departed announced the establishment of a funeral committee for Ding Jianqiang and posted his obituary online. According to the obituary, Ding participated in the June Fourth Movement in Shanghai in 1989, for which he was arrested, and was then harassed and persecuted for years, “causing serious disruptions to his work life. After he went into exile in the United States in 2014, Ding settled in Los Angeles, where he joined several pro-democracy organizations, often donated to Chinese dissidents and pro-democracy activities, and expressed solidarity with the Hong Kong protests. The funeral committee said they will hold a memorial service for Ding on Jan. 10, 2021, and that participants can attend either live or online.
The microblogging account “地瓜熊老六”, which has 643,000 followers, spoke out about Ting’s death on Dec. 22. As of 8 a.m. on Dec. 23, the tweet had received more than 4,400 likes. (From Weibo, real-time likes data screenshot by Sun Cheng)
The microblog account “地瓜熊老六”, which has 643,000 followers, made a statement about Ding Jianqiang’s death on Dec. 22. As of 8 a.m. on Dec. 23, the tweet had received more than 4,400 likes. (From Weibo, real-time likes data screenshot by Sun Cheng)
It is worth noting that since December 22, a large amount of malicious content posted by Chinese pro-Communist accounts has appeared in the Twitter account used by Ding Jianqiang before his death. The content was concentrated under a tweet posted by Ding Jianqiang on Dec. 8. In that tweet, Ding said he had been admitted to the quarantine area and “saw with my own eyes that the ward was in order and that there was room in the quarantine area. As of 8 a.m. on Dec. 23, there were 2,394 replies to the tweet, most of which contained malicious insults and personal attacks, while others said Ding was sent to a ward where he was “left to die without treatment. In addition, some pro-Communist accounts said they had learned of the news from Chinese social media or websites such as Zhihu, Weibo and Huhu.
Ding Jianqiang tweeted on December 8, describing his condition and the availability of rooms in the hospital. (From Twitter)
A tweet by Ding Jianqiang on Dec. 8 describing his condition and the availability of rooms in the hospital. (From Twitter)
Since Dec. 22, a number of malicious content targeting Ding Jianqiang and the U.S. healthcare system has also appeared on major Chinese websites. On Weibo, for example, a number of accounts posted news about Ding’s death on Dec. 22, including the account “地瓜熊老六,” which has 643,000 followers and often posts anti-American content. In a tweet published on the same day, the account said its relationship with Ding Jianqiang was “a naked conflict between us and the enemy. On WeChat, North American Student Daily, a self-publisher with millions of subscribers known for its nationalist content targeting overseas Chinese students, also published an article on Dec. 22, saying that “almost half of Ding Jianqiang’s tweets were He also said that he had “no sympathy” for Ding Jianqiang’s death and believed that his death was related to the U.S. healthcare system. At 8 a.m. Western time on December 23, the article had been read more than 100,000 times. On the far-left Chinese website Red Song Society.com, Mei Xinyu, a longtime nationalist researcher at the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, published an article on Dec. 23, calling Ding Jianqiang a “famous anti-China publicist overseas” and arguing that Ding’s tweets before his death about the availability of wards in the quarantine area could be because “The intensive care units in North America are full,” and “for those who are only seriously ill but have been abandoned for various reasons, there are still empty beds in the hospital for them to wait for death.
Personal attack remarks from a pro-communist account under a tweet posted by Ding on Dec. 8. (From Twitter)
Personal attacks from a pro-communist account tweeted by Ding Jianqiang on December 8. (From Twitter)
In response to the above, Xu Jie, a former friend of Ding Jianqiang and president of the Association for the Study of the Constitution of the Departed, told reporters that he had been following the process of Ding’s rescue and treatment during the last ten days or so of his life, and that Mei Xinyu’s speculation was unfounded. He said: “(December) 11, more than two o’clock in the morning (Ding Jianqiang) to the hospital, and then eight or nine o’clock in the morning was diagnosed. After the diagnosis was confirmed, he was put into the intensive care unit.” Another friend of Ding Jianqiang, now living in Los Angeles, immigration consultant Zheng Cunzhu said that Ding Jianqiang was suffering from kidney failure for more than two years and has been receiving free treatment from U.S. hospitals. Although Ding Jianqiang does not have U.S. citizenship, he was still able to receive the same medical treatment as U.S. citizens during his lifetime, “the most advanced in the United States, so to speak, even the Communist Party does not dare to deny that it can be said that the medical system to take care of all the people, so the people at home should know the truth, they are completely by the so-called ‘fifty cents ‘, ‘netizens’ who are creating rumors to cover up the truth.”
Article on the death of Ding Jianqiang published by International Student Daily in North America on Dec. 22. (From WeChat public number “North American Student Daily”)
Article on the death of Ding Jianqiang published in the North American Student Daily on Dec. 22. (From the WeChat public website “North American Student Daily”)
Sculptor Chen Weiming, a friend of Ding Jianqiang, said it was “very unusual” that his death, which was not a well-known pro-democracy activist, caused such a big reaction in China. He said, “The Chinese Communist Party’s foreign propaganda has never reported on the overseas pro-democracy activists’ pursuit of justice, democracy and freedom, and has always been silenced. And when a pro-democracy activist dies, they have those things, that is, they gloat.”
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