Martyrdom in The Time of Xi

The death of a persecuted whistleblower is the gravest political challenge to China’s Xi Jinping yet

- Daniel Ten Kate and Peter Martin

Martyrs have always played a central role in China’s opaque politics—both for authorities to rally nationalism and for the opposition to resist. Now the country’s spiraling virus outbreak has one who could become the face of the biggest crisis for President Xi Jinping since he took power.

Li Wenliang, a 34-year-old doctor in the central city of Wuhan, was sanctioned by local officials last month for publicly warning of the dangers of the coronavirus that is quickly making its way across the world. His death on Feb. 7 from Covid-19, as the disease from this new coronavirus, is called, unleashed a wave of fury in online forums from citizens questioning not just the initial response, but also the overall competence of the Communist Party.

The regime, of course, isn’t in danger of falling, even if its infallibility has been dented. But the death of Dr. Li is a reminder of how challenges can emerge unexpectedly for even the mightiest of rulers.

Xi’s government knew Li’s death could be explosive. After the Global Times, a newspaper affiliated with the Communist Party reported his demise, it quickly retracted it, only to confirm it again hours later. Suspicions of an attempted cover-up led to online outrage, with censors quickly taking down the hashtags “I Want Freedom of Speech” and links to Do You Hear the People Sing? from the musical Les Misérables. They even removed posts with the first line to China’s own national anthem: “Arise, ye who refuse to be slaves!”