Opinion | The Coronavirus Story Is Too Big for China to Spin (Published 2020)
- ️Fri Feb 14 2020
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Maybe what goes up online must come down, but what comes down will go up again.
Feb. 14, 2020
Reactions to Li Wenliang’s death last Friday filled the timelines of my social media accounts almost immediately. Post after post on my WeChat. Grief, frustration, anger.
A week later, the groundswell of emotions seems unabated.
Dr. Li, a 34-year-old ophthalmologist in Wuhan, the Chinese city at the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, was one of the first doctors to try to warn about the disease, and then to die from it.
The story of how the authorities muzzled Dr. Li became an instant parable for their trampling on the Chinese public’s right to know. The authorities’ effort to now muzzle the public’s outrage is a parable of government unaccountability.
On Dec. 30, Dr. Li told former classmates from medical school in a WeChat group that several patients displaying SARS-like symptoms were being quarantined. He was quickly summoned for questioning by the police.
On Jan. 3, Dr. Li was made to sign a statement declaring that his warning had been incorrect and was “illegal,” and that it had “disturbed social order.” Under a typed admonishment that said, “If you continue this illegal activity, you will be dealt with by the law! Do you understand?” he wrote by hand, “I understand.” Would he now cooperate with the police? “I can.”
In an interview later with Caixin, one of China’s leading investigative news outlets, Dr. Li said, “There shouldn’t be only one voice in a healthy society.” After news broke last week that he had died, a picture with his quote ignited the Chinese internet.