Coronavirus doctor’s last social media post draws commemorations of Tiananmen crackdown

As June 4 discussions continue to disappear online, some people are hinting about it in comments under a Weibo post from Dr. Li Wenliang, known as an early Covid-19 whistleblower

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A photo of Chinese doctor Li Wenliang seen in Hong Kong as people attend a vigil on February 7. (Picture: AP)

Xinmei Shen

Published: 9:17pm, 4 Jun 2020

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

Every day since early February, many Weibo users have continued to visit the profile page for Chinese doctor Li Wenliang. His death from Covid-19 saw widespread condemnation of the government’s handling of the pandemic on social media.

In remembrance of Li, users routinely show up in the comment section of his last Weibo post to greet him good morning and good night and even tell him about the day’s weather. But on June 4, some users showed up to commemorate more than just Li.

“Dr. Li, it’s the fourth day of Children’s Day, a day worth remembering,” one user commented, according to China Digital Times. “I hope I’ll see a free China in my lifetime.”

The day marks 31 years since Beijing’s brutal military crackdown on student-led protests in Tiananmen Square, leading to hundreds of deaths -- and possibly many more. Since then, June 4 has been a taboo subject in mainland China, with almost all online discussions of it being wiped out by the government’s complex censorship apparatus known as the Great Firewall. And every year, authorities tighten that censorship ahead of the anniversary, erasing any posts with even a vague suggestion of being about that date.

The story of China’s Great Firewall, the world’s most sophisticated censorship system

To keep the memory of the crackdown alive, creative internet users have used everything from rubber duck memes to mahjong tiles, but meticulous censors have still found a way to mute them. In an extreme example from 2018, WeChat users reportedly couldn’t even send 89.64 yuan through WeChat Pay.

The situation remains the same this year, but some conversations still manage to slip through the cracks. And Li’s Weibo page has offered a rare lodestone for people wishing to commemorate the date.