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CHAPTER ONE

From Wuhan to

the World

On December 30, 2019, Li Wenliang delivered an urgent
message to a group of his fellow doctors via an online chat
room. Li, a thirty-four-year-old eye doctor at Wuhan Central
Hospital, warned that he had seen several cases of a virus
that resembled SARS, a severe respiratory illness that had
spread worldwide in 2003. Li urged his friends to wear spe-
cial clothing and gear to protect themselves from infection.
What Li did not yet know was that the virus was something
new—and deadly.

Li’s comments quickly reached government security
offi cials. At the time, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
claimed the virus was transmitted only by contact with ani-
mals. There were no safety guidelines yet for doctors. On
January 1, 2020, the Wuhan Public Security Bureau ac-
cused Li, along with seven others, of spreading false ru-
mors and disturbing the social order. Offi cials forced him to
sign a public letter admitting to his supposed offense. One
week later, while treating a patient, Li caught the virus him-
self. In a blog post, Li described how he began coughing,
developed a fever a day later, then had to be hospitalized.
He died on February 6, 2020. Li’s death brought a fl ood of
emotional posts from his followers. One person feared what
Li’s story—the attempt to silence his truth telling—would
mean for China and the world. “Dr Li Wenliang is a hero,”
this person wrote. “In the future, doctors will be more afraid

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