Li Wenliang was a Chinese ophthalmologist who worked as a physician at Wuhan Central Hospital. He was credited with being the first medical professional to sound the alarm on the coronavirus only weeks before he himself contracted the virus and passed away. Li had caught the virus while working at Wuhan Central Hospital.
In December of 2019, he warned his medical school friends on WeChat about seven patients with a SARS-like disease who went to the same local seafood market. The patients were quarantined in his hospital in Wuhan. He also advised the group chat to wear protective clothing in order to avoid possibly being infected. Afterwards, screenshots of his message were spread around and Li Wenliang was eventually called to a police station. He was reprimanded for spreading apparently false rumours on the Internet, disturbing social order, and was forced to sign a statement acknowledging his misdemeanour before he was allowed to leave the police station.
Later on, Dr. Li sent another message a month after his initial one on Weibo from a hospital bed as he fought the virus. He explained that on the 10th of January, he started coughing and later on had a fever that ended up with him being admitted into the hospital. On the 30th of January, it was confirmed that Li was infected with the coronavirus.
About a week later, Li had reportedly passed away from the virus. This caused a massive wave of grief and rage by Chinese netizens. They took their feelings and thoughts to Weibo where they demanded an apology from the Chinese government to Li Wenliang and raised their voices saying that freedom of speech must be granted to the people of China. The netizens also called for an end to state censorship in order for the same mistakes to not be repeated. The Chinese government did not hesitate to censor these topics, leaving hundreds of thousands of comments wiped from Weibo. The situation caused a distrust towards the Chinese government and many still expressed their anger by quoting the letter Dr. Li was forced to sign. This quote was “Can you manage? Do you understand?”. Another comment preached that the truth will always be treated as a rumour.
Immediately after Li Wenliang’s death, there was still turmoil. People were certain that he had passed away but some were still unsure. Official media outlets have confirmed that they were disallowed by government officials to report his death and were forced to change their reports. They were told to inform the public that Li was still being treated. Soon after, they had announced that he passed away at 2:58 am when his actual time of death was 9:30 pm as confirmed by the hospital.
The anger expressed by Chinese netizens seemed to move the government, and so the National Supervisory Commission of China declared on the 19th of March that the punishment given to Li was irregular and improper. The police was held responsible for their actions and thus apologised for the predicament. Subsequently, Li Wenliang was bestowed with the title of ‘martyr’ which is the highest honour the Chinese Communist Party can grant a citizen who died working to serve the country. Li Wenliang was indeed a national hero and should always be remembered for being the first doctor to warn China about the new virus that is currently taking over the world.
In December of 2019, he warned his medical school friends on WeChat about seven patients with a SARS-like disease who went to the same local seafood market. The patients were quarantined in his hospital in Wuhan. He also advised the group chat to wear protective clothing in order to avoid possibly being infected. Afterwards, screenshots of his message were spread around and Li Wenliang was eventually called to a police station. He was reprimanded for spreading apparently false rumours on the Internet, disturbing social order, and was forced to sign a statement acknowledging his misdemeanour before he was allowed to leave the police station.
Later on, Dr. Li sent another message a month after his initial one on Weibo from a hospital bed as he fought the virus. He explained that on the 10th of January, he started coughing and later on had a fever that ended up with him being admitted into the hospital. On the 30th of January, it was confirmed that Li was infected with the coronavirus.
About a week later, Li had reportedly passed away from the virus. This caused a massive wave of grief and rage by Chinese netizens. They took their feelings and thoughts to Weibo where they demanded an apology from the Chinese government to Li Wenliang and raised their voices saying that freedom of speech must be granted to the people of China. The netizens also called for an end to state censorship in order for the same mistakes to not be repeated. The Chinese government did not hesitate to censor these topics, leaving hundreds of thousands of comments wiped from Weibo. The situation caused a distrust towards the Chinese government and many still expressed their anger by quoting the letter Dr. Li was forced to sign. This quote was “Can you manage? Do you understand?”. Another comment preached that the truth will always be treated as a rumour.
Immediately after Li Wenliang’s death, there was still turmoil. People were certain that he had passed away but some were still unsure. Official media outlets have confirmed that they were disallowed by government officials to report his death and were forced to change their reports. They were told to inform the public that Li was still being treated. Soon after, they had announced that he passed away at 2:58 am when his actual time of death was 9:30 pm as confirmed by the hospital.
The anger expressed by Chinese netizens seemed to move the government, and so the National Supervisory Commission of China declared on the 19th of March that the punishment given to Li was irregular and improper. The police was held responsible for their actions and thus apologised for the predicament. Subsequently, Li Wenliang was bestowed with the title of ‘martyr’ which is the highest honour the Chinese Communist Party can grant a citizen who died working to serve the country. Li Wenliang was indeed a national hero and should always be remembered for being the first doctor to warn China about the new virus that is currently taking over the world.