Anger and grief has been flowing through the intranet in China following the death of Li Wenliang, the Wuhan doctor who was one of the first to warn about the deadly coronavirus.
The outpouring of emotions has since overflowed from the online space to the offline world, in a rare display of displeasure and immense sadness in China that has become visible and public in the city of Wuhan.
Li, 34, died from the virus early on Friday morning, Feb. 7.
Popular lore in China now has it that the doctor's death ended up being announced twice as the authorities struggled to deal with the backlash after Li was first pronounced dead.
This was after the first report caused widespread outrage on Chinese social media, so much so that officials tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate the doctor back to life again.
Residents blow whistles
In his memory, a small crowd gathered on Friday evening outside the Wuhan Central Hospital, where Li worked and died.
They left behind bouquets of flowers and blew whistles loudly, a fitting display considering that Li was a whistleblower.
Residents living in high-rise apartment buildings in Wuhan also caused a ruckus, as they screamed out of their windows and blew their whistles at night.
A temporary farewell message for the doctor was also spotted scrawled on a snowed out road in Beijing.
The message read: “Farewell to Li Wenliang.”
Chinese citizens have flooded Weibo and WeChat with criticisms of the government in unprecedented ways no seen in China for years.
They are making their feelings heard despite the heavy censorship.
In early January, Li was one of eight whistleblowers, all of whom are believed to be doctors or medical professionals, to be hauled up by police in Wuhan for “spreading rumours” about a mysterious virus.
Li was forced to sign a letter, declaring that he would “heed the advice of police” and “stop illegal behavior”, or else, be met by the “full force of the law”.
The revelation that he was ultimately right is now coming back to haunt the local authorities, as well as Beijing, for not acting faster, and even putting resources into keeping naysayers at bay.