Liberal voices in China fall silent after coronavirus
- Activists fear for future as Chinese people increasingly find Western-style liberalism unconvincing, even irrelevant
- Online outrage spread along with the virus in the pandemic’s early days, but both were brought under control within months
This is the latest instalment of a series looking back at the effects of the coronavirus outbreak one year after it first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Here, we examine the fate of some of the writers, academics and activists who spoke out in the early days of the pandemic. Please support us in our mission to bring you quality journalism.
For six months, Zhang had refused to plead guilty, beginning a hunger strike soon after her arrest, which continued right up to her brief trial. She attended court in a wheelchair, according to her lawyer Zhang Keke (no relation) and did not say immediately if she would appeal.
During the trial, the prosecutor did not show most of the evidence, while his client said citizens’ speech should not be censored and, apart from that, basically did not speak, the lawyer said.
In a December visit at Shanghai Pudong detention centre, she had earlier told him, “[I am] mentally and physically exhausted. Every day has been a torture”. By that stage, Zhang’s hands were restrained to stop her removing a feeding tube in her nose, while her health continued to deteriorate.
