Thousands of Chinese social media users paid tribute to Li Wenliang on Saturday, marking the anniversary of the death of the doctor who blew the whistle on the coronavirus.
Li was one of a group of doctors in Wuhan who shared posts on social media warning of a Sars-like virus spreading in the central city in December 2019. He was reprimanded by police for spreading “rumours”.
His death in February last year after catching the virus from a patient prompted a national outpouring of grief, as well as anger at the government’s handling of the crisis and demands for political reform.
The Chinese government has since promoted an official narrative centred on its efficient handling of the outbreak as local transmissions have largely been brought under control and censors swiftly scrub the more critical comments from the internet.
But Li’s personal page on the Weibo social media platform remains a rare space for users to commemorate the trauma of the early outbreak after the country imposed a strict lockdown on millions of people in Wuhan and the rest of Hubei province.
Commenters marked the anniversary of his death with thousands of messages, ranging from candle emoticons to updates on their own lives addressed to the late doctor.
“Dr Li, the weather is great today where I live. Everyone around me is trying their best in life, all is good, happy lunar new year,” one Weibo user wrote on Saturday in a comment on Li’s last post.
“I thought everyone would have forgotten you after a year,” another person wrote under the post, which has attracted more than a million comments.
“I was wrong, you live forever in the hearts of the Chinese people.”
But Wuhan itself showed few outward indications of mourning.
There was little sign of tributes outside Wuhan Central Hospital where the ophthalmologist, 24, warned colleagues of the mysterious new virus, in contrast with the photos and bouquets left by mourners a year ago.
The city where the virus was first detected is now playing host to a delegation of World Health Organisation inspectors searching for clues to its source.
The sensitive mission, which Beijing delayed last year, has already visited the Huanan Seafood Market, where some patients worked.
The experts also toured Wuhan Institute of Virology, which conducts research into coronaviruses.
Life in Wuhan, a city of 11 million, has largely returned to normal, with bustling shopping malls and lively night markets months after the world’s first Covid lockdown was lifted in April.
“Last year, there were no people or cars on the street, and the only vehicle on the road was an ambulance, so I felt very empty inside,” Wuhan resident Hou Mingli told the news agency AFP.
A year later, Hou said: “I feel much warmth and comfort”.