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Coronavirus: Chinese professor targeted after praising Fang Fang’s Wuhan Diary
- Hubei University launches investigation into staff member who took aim at novelist’s critics
- Inquiry a bad sign for freedom of speech, observers warn
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A university professor in central China is under investigation after expressing support for an award-winning novelist who documented life under lockdown in Wuhan, the city where the coronavirus pandemic first erupted.
Hubei University announced on Sunday that Liang Yanping, a professor of its school of Chinese language and literature, was under investigation over her allegedly “inappropriate speech” on social media.
The university said it would deal seriously with the case but did not say what remarks by Liang prompted the investigation.
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The announcement came about a month after Liang posted an article on China’s top messaging app WeChat praising novelist Wang Fang, also known as Fang Fang, for the humanitarian spirit of her Wuhan Diary and accusing Wang’s critics of being shameless.
“It’s terrible if a normal society doesn’t have criticism,” the professor wrote.
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Wang’s diary contained criticism of the city government’s response to the epidemic and related the experiences of her friends in the crisis.
Critics accused her of giving other countries ammunition as China came under international pressure over its handling of the epidemic.
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