'Others pointed to the timing of the eventual confirmation, suggesting the authorities had tried to push the announcement until most people would be in bed so they could better control the reaction.''As the grief and rage poured out, those in charge of China's vast censorship apparatus, the Great Firewall, seemed at a loss over what to do. Topics relating to censorship itself, usually absolutely verboten, trended for several hours before being deleted, rare evidence of indecision and confusion.
On Weibo, a Twitter-like platform, two hashtags -- "The Wuhan government owes Dr. Li Wenliang an apology" and "We want freedom of speech" -- attracted tens of thousands of views, before being deleted. Another hashtag, "I want freedom of speech," drew more than 1.8 million views in the early hours of Friday morning, before it too was censored.
The anger over Li's death was made worse by an apparent clumsy attempt to control the narrative, one that was highly reminiscent of the overreaction that led to his initial arrest.
Multiple state media outlets reported Li's death late Thursday night, citing friends and doctors at Wuhan Central Hospital, only to subsequently delete them without explanation. The hospital claimed efforts to resuscitate Li were underway, but later issued a statement that he had died.
While it is possible that this was a mistake -- and Chinese media wouldn't be the first to misreport someone's death -- the suggestion that the censors' hands were involved was enough to spark fury online.
"A doctor had to die twice," wrote one user on the popular social media app WeChat. "That is national humiliation."
Others pointed to the timing of the eventual confirmation, suggesting the authorities had tried to push the announcement until most people would be in bed so they could better control the reaction.'
- CNN,
China's censors tried to control the narrative on a hero doctor's death. It backfired terribly, February 7, 2020
Context (BBC) - 'The death of Dr Li Wenliang .. China's command and control system of governance under Xi Jinping .. [that] structure is obviously broken.'(CNN) - Whistleblower doctor (34) silenced by police dies from coronavirus - Coronavirus Crisis Shows China’s Governance Failure, [pleasing Xi Jinping]How Chinese doctor Li Wenliang died twice in China's state media, February 7, 2020
Outrage in China over death of whistleblower doctor, February 7, 2020