This is Dr. Li Wenliang. I will be honest, I didn't know who he was until quite a bit later. His influence came to light when it was revealed that he was being detained for spreading rumours about a "SARS-like" virus in Wuhan.
At that point, I among many others heard of the news and thought very little of it because there was a very real possibility that it was "fake" news and making such claims needs substantiated proof.
I will also be the first to admit that my initial reaction and instinct was wrong. What eventually played out was a national disaster. An entire nation wrought with fear and uncertainty, daily life completely disrupted and a whole world on edge about the potential outbreak of a serious disease.
Dr. Li's first made effort to warn people about the sars-like virus at the end of December but resulted in him being detained and forced to sign statements confirming he was spreading false information. Trying to downplay the severity of the outbreak, Wuhan Officials waved their censoring hands and prohibited the rightful spread of truthful information to people at an earlier date, and have indirectly caused the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of people.
Li himself contracted the disease soon after and has been seen as a martyr of sorts in the last few weeks as the country and much of the world comes to term with his early discovery.
On the 7th of Feburary, it was announced by several prominent and reliable news sources such as the Global Times, that Dr. Li had regrettably passed away from the Coronavirus. If the initial mistakes were not enough to serve as a lesson on the importance of freedom of press, then the announcement of his death surely should? Unfortunately, the propaganda machine continues to churn and Dr. Li's death became a national confusion. Once one news outlet reports his death, so does every other and very quickly, the news became trending on Weibo.
For some unknown reason, the powers that be decided that announcing his death was not something to be discussed on the national level, and so news outlets were told to immediately rescind the story and instead, report that he had a ECOM (extra corporeal membrane oxygenation) to keep him alive.
By this point, social media channels were awash with anger of how the situation of his condition was handled. Public calls for apologies to Dr Li and hashtags of freedom of speech began to trend on Weibo but were soon censored and completely deleted.
The fiasco of his death and subsequent media reporting have brought to light the true agenda of the government - to put the solidarity of the state above absolutely everything else. Including thousands of people fighting for there lives, and hundreds of people already dead.
