A protester shows how prisoners are treated and paraded in public in China, during a rally in Hong Kong, on July 31, 2005. Ted Aljibe/AFP via Getty Images
Press freedom in China reached a record low during the pandemic, according to a new survey. China’s dismal status when it comes to freedom to report raises concerns about citizen journalists who are in the cross hairs of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
In its 2023 World Press Freedom Index, released on May 3, Reporters Without Borders indicated that China scored the second lowest out of 180 countries and territories worldwide. Only North Korea scored lower.
May 3 was World Press Freedom Day, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993. The right to freedom of expression “is a prerequisite and a driver to the enjoyment of all other human rights,” as stated in the U.N.’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
However, in China, reporting the truth comes at a cost. Whistleblowers like Fang Bin, Zhang Zhan, and Li Wenliang, who exposed the truth about the COVID-19 pandemic in its earliest days, are still being detained, hunted, and bullied by the communist regime.
Fang Bin: Out of Jail But Homeless
A pro-democracy activist holds a placard of citizen journalist Fang Bin as she protests outside the Chinese liaison office in Hong Kong, on Feb. 19, 2020. Isaac Lawrence/AFP via Getty Images
Fang Bin, detained for documenting the truth about COVID-19, was released from jail on April 30. However, he cannot return home.
Fang’s family in Wuhan has been threatened by authorities; therefore, they will not take him in. Currently, he wanders the streets of Wuhan with no money, according to a viral Twitter post. Local authorities do not allow him to be interviewed; he is followed and closely monitored.
After his disappearance in early 2020. Chinese authorities were unclear about Fang’s whereabouts and his status. Eventually, he was sentenced to three years in prison in a secret trial.
The Epoch Times reached out to people in China about Fang’s release. Many did not even know that he had been released. Some hung up when they heard his name. One person who was willing to speak with The Epoch Times expressed sympathy for the journalist, saying, “Fang’s deeds must be supported; he is suffering for everyone.”
One of Fang’s friends, who spoke to The Epoch Times under the pseudonym Cao Moyan, said that because Fang had a great deal of influence, his trial and conviction were kept secret, so no one would know when he would be released.
Fang’s family is under unimaginable pressure, Cao said, expressing the hope that the CCP’s ploy to prevent Fang from returning home will actually keep Fang in the public eye.
In February of 2020, determined to investigate the viral outbreak, Fang became one of several citizen journalists filming overcrowded hospitals and dead bodies. On Feb. 1, he went to Wuhan Public Hospital No. 5, where he filmed eight body bags outside the hospital in just five minutes. The video went viral.
On Feb. 9, local police arrested Fang for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”
Zhang Zhan: Years in Prison
Pro-democracy activists hold placards to show support for twelve Hong Kong residents detained in China and former lawyer Zhang Zhan outside the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government, in Hong Kong, on Dec. 28, 2020. Anthony Kwan/Getty Images
Zhang Zhan, a lawyer, went to Wuhan as a citizen journalist on Feb. 1, 2020, just days before the city of 11 million went into a total lockdown. Walking the streets, she filmed hospitals and deserted neighborhoods and posted the videos on social media. Her videos showed crematoriums roaring into operation at night. Zhang criticized the official response to the outbreak as failing to consider human rights and obscuring the severity of the epidemic.
Zhang was arrested on May 15, 2020, on suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” In June of 2020, she began a hunger strike to protest her incarceration. On Dec. 28 of the same year, so weak from malnutrition that she had to attend her trial in a wheelchair, Zhang was sentenced to four years in jail. She remains in prison.
Whistleblower Died After ‘Legal Measures’
It has been over three years since Dr. Li Wenliang died. Considered the first whistleblower on the virus in China, Li was admonished by local police after he sent messages about the outbreak to fellow doctors.
People attend a vigil to mourn for doctor Li Wenliang in Hong Kong on Feb. 7, 2020. Anthony Kwan/Getty Images
Just over a month later, it was reported that Li had died of COVID-19.
Li alerted his fellow doctors about the novel coronavirus in a post on WeChat, a popular social media platform in China, on Dec. 30, 2019. Days later, on Jan. 1, officials in Wuhan said that they had “taken legal measures” against eight individuals, including Li, who allegedly “spread rumors” about the disease and “caused adverse impacts on society.” Two days later, police summoned Li and reprimanded him.
In early February 2020, the 34-year-old ophthalmologist was reportedly diagnosed with COVID-19. He died on Feb. 7 at Wuhan Central Hospital, where he worked.
However, a Canadian doctor said he thinks it’s “quite unlikely” that the whistleblower died of COVID-19 shortly after he was arrested by Chinese police for warning the public about a “SARS-like” outbreak.
“I think it is quite unlikely that Li Wenliang died of Covid days after his arrest by a brutal dictatorship,” Dr. Matthew Strauss wrote in a Twitter post on Jan. 2. Strauss pointed to a study that said the infection fatality rate for people in the age group of 30 to 39 was just 0.011 percent. This means Li had a nearly “99.99%” chance of survival, Strauss said.
‘The Voice of Our Cry’
These citizen journalists are honored for courageously reporting the truth despite efforts to suppress them.
On April 23, a monument to whistleblowers was unveiled at the Liberty Sculpture Park in Southern California. Chen Weiming, director of the park, told Radio Free Asia that Chinese whistleblowers had sacrificed much. “Those who rise up to ... blow the whistle in China have to bear a very heavy price, which may be death, prison or disappearance,” he said.
The Whistleblower Monument depicts a silver whistle and a flying iron chain with shackles, symbolizing the “pursuit of freedom and the voice of our cry,” said Chen.
Andrew Chen contributed to this report.
Kane Zhang is a reporter based in Japan. She has written on health topics for The Epoch Times since 2022, mainly focusing on Integrative Medicine. She also reports on current affairs related Japan and China.
