page_title: Li Wenliang
section_title: Reaction
hierarchical_section_title: Li Wenliang / Career / Role in 2019–20 COVID-19 pandemic / Reaction
caption_attribution_description: 中文（中国大陆）‎: 李文亮的训诫书 Transcription in Chinese here: zh:s:武汉市公安局武昌分局中南路街派出所训诫书. English: Wuhan City Public Security Bureau Wuchang Branch Zhongnan Road Street Police StationThe Letter of Admonition With the approval of the Central Committee, the State Supervisory Committee decided to send an investigation team to Wuhan, Hubei Province, to conduct a comprehensive investigation on related issues reported by the masses involving Dr. Li Wenliang. Announcement of Wuhan Municipal Government (February 7, 2020) Text source: Caixin Report Wuhan South Public Security Bureau Wuchang Branch Zhongnan Road Street Police Station Admonition Wu Gong (Zhong) No. (20200103) Disciplined: Li Wenliang;﻿ Sex: Male;﻿ Birthday: October 12, 1986 ID number types and numbers: (Redacted) Current address (location of residence): (Redacted), Wuhan City Workplace: Central Hospital of Wuhan Illegal activities (time, location, participants and number of participants, problems received and consequences): Posting false statement: "7 confirmed SARS cases at Wuhan Hua'nan Fruit and Seafood Market" on the WeChat group "Wuhan University Clinical Class of 2004" on Dec 30, 2019. &#x5b;We are&#x5d; now filing an official warning and admonition for the illegal action of posting false and untrue statements on the Internet in accordance with the law. Your behavior severely disrupts social order and exceeds the scope permitted by the law in addition to violating the relevant provisions of the Public Security Administration Punishment Law of the People's Republic of China, which makes this an illegal act! The police authority hopes that you can cooperate with our work, listen to the admonishment by the police officers and stop conducting illegal activities. Are you able to do that? ﻿Answer: Yes. ﻿We hope that you calm down and reflect carefully, and solemnly warn you: if you act stubbornly, and continue to carry out illegal activities, you will be punished by the law! Do you understand? ﻿Answer: Understood. Disciplined: Li Wenliang﻿ (January 3, 2020) Officers: Hu Guifang Xu Jinhang﻿ Police unit: Wuhan South Public Security Bureau Wuchang District Bureau Zhongnan Subdistrict Zhongnan Road police station January 3, 2019&#x5b;sic&#x5d;
context_page_description: Li Wenliang was a Chinese ophthalmologist who worked at Wuhan Central Hospital. On 30 December 2019, Wuhan CDC issued emergency warnings to local hospitals about a number of mysterious pneumonia cases discovered in the city in the previous week. On the same day, Li received an internal diagnostic report of a suspected severe acute respiratory syndrome patient from other doctors which he in turn shared with his friends. He was dubbed a whistleblower when that shared report later circulated publicly despite him requesting confidentiality from those he shared the information with. Rumors of a deadly SARS outbreak subsequently spread on Chinese social media platforms, and Wuhan police summoned and admonished him for "making false comments on the Internet about unconfirmed SARS outbreak".
  The outbreak was later confirmed not to be SARS but a new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. Li returned to work and later contracted COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, from a patient who was not known to be infected. He died from the disease on 7 February 2020, at age 33.
context_section_description: The existence of Li's personal blog where he documented his discoveries was reported by the Italian newspaper La Stampa on 1 February. Li was already in the spotlight in the Chinese media because he was thought to be one of the eight "rumor mongers" warned by Wuhan police. However, according to some media, Wuhan police summoned eight "rumor mongers" on 1 January, while Li and Xie Linka, another doctor from Wuhan Union Hospital, were warned on 3 January, meaning that the latter two might not be part of the group. Li later responded that he did not know whether he was one of the so-called "rumor mongers," but that he had been admonished for claiming a SARS outbreak, which at that time was unconfirmed. The police punishment of Li for "rumor mongering" was aired on China Central Television, signalling central government endorsement for the reprimand, according to two reporters for the South China Morning Post.
  On 4 February, the Chinese Supreme People's Court said that the eight Wuhan citizens should not have been punished as what they said was not entirely false. It wrote on social media: "It might have been a fortunate thing if the public had believed the 'rumors' then and started to wear masks and carry out sanitization measures, and avoid the wild animal market."
  Li told Caixin that he had been worried the hospital would punish him for "spreading rumors", but felt relieved after the top court publicly criticized the police. "I think there should be more than one voice in a healthy society, and I don't approve of using public power for excessive interference," said Li.
caption: The letter of admonition issued by the Wuhan Police Bureau (translation) ordering Li to stop "spreading rumors" about SARS, co-signed by Li and two officers. Li uploaded it to his Sina Weibo account.
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