- Widely shared online obituaries hail 34-year-old ophthalmologist as an ‘ordinary hero’, while social media users are scathing in criticism of Wuhan authorities
- Li shared his police reprimand with online followers
The death of the doctor who was reprimanded by police for being one of the first whistle-blowers of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak has sparked an outpouring of grief and anger on Chinese social media.
Tributes for 34-year-old Li Wenliang flooded in after his death from coronavirus was reported by media, including Global Times, Caixin, and The Beijing News, on Thursday evening.
These reports were later deleted, only to be followed by hope, confusion and anger as Li's employer, Wuhan Central Hospital, said early on Friday that he was in critical condition and being resuscitated, before it confirmed his death at about 3am.
"In the fight against the pneumonia epidemic of the new coronavirus infection, our hospital's ophthalmologist, Li Wenliang, was unfortunately infected," the hospital said on its Twitter-like Weibo account.
"He passed away after all the efforts we've taken to resuscitate him. We deeply mourn his passing."
On Thursday night and Friday morning, three rapidly trending social media hashtags " "The Wuhan government owes Li Wenliang an apology", "I want freedom of speech" and "We want freedom of speech" " were seen millions of times before they were censored.
Angry comments about the official announcement of his death were also deleted, including one that read: "I've learned two phrases: political rescue and performative rescue."
One social media user wrote: "I cannot continue to scroll through Weibo, I am so disappointed with the country. Everyone wears a mask and covers their mouth, but can only shed tears secretly at home as they watch the corpses lying everywhere."
Widely shared obituaries of Li published by Chinese media outlets, including Renwu magazine, hailed him as a martyr and an ordinary hero, who loved eating and doting on his family. Li's Weibo posts suggested a love of gadgets and the Chinese actor and pop star Xiao Zhan.
Others posted pictures of candles, Li's portrait, and a quote from a Caixin interview Li gave in his final days: "A healthy society should not only have one kind of voice."
Some people shared Do You Hear the People Sing?, a song from the musical Les Miserables adopted as an anthem by protesters in Hong Kong.
In a statement on Friday, Wuhan's government said: "We express our deep condolences and regrets. We pay tribute to (Li's) sticking to the front line in fighting the epidemic, and offer our sincere condolences to his family."
Li was one of eight people disciplined by Wuhan authorities in January for "spreading rumours" after he warned a university alumni WeChat group on December 30 of a Sars-like disease that had sickened several patients then quarantined in a hospital.
The same day, local health authorities confirmed 27 cases of a new type of virus, most of them linked to a seafood market.
Li " along with seven others, including at least three doctors, who shared information about the outbreak " was summoned by police and forced to sign a letter promising to make no further disclosures about the disease.
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In a Weibo post discussing how he broke the news and his interactions with the police, Li said he returned to work on January 3 after the police reprimand and a week later he started to cough.
"I was feverish on January 11 and was hospitalised the next day. Back then, the government still insisted that there was no human-to-human transmission, and said none of the medical staff had been infected. I was just confused," he wrote on January 31.
Li was diagnosed with the coronavirus on Saturday, and shared a photo of the police reprimand letter on Weibo.
"The public security organs hope that you will be able to cooperate with our work, listen to the police's admonishment, and from now on stop illegal activities," it said. "Are you able to do this?"
Li responded: "I can."
"We hope that you can calmly self-reflect, and sternly admonish you: if you are stubborn and do not repent, and continue with your illegal activities, you will receive legal punishment. Do you understand?"
Li responded: "I understand."
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