Tencent has been reporting the official numbers related to the novel coronavirus in China. For a long time, China has reported infection cases in the thousands or just ten thousand and death cases in hundreds.

However, on February 1, 2020, Tencent briefly reported a set of unusually high numbers. It reported that 154,023 had been infected and 24,589 had died. Then it adjusted the data back to much smaller numbers. On February 2, Tencent lowered the number back to 14,446 infections and 304 deaths.

It is unclear whether Tencent “accidentally” reported numbers that were accurate or much closer to the truth or the February 1 data was just a mistake.

Related postings on Chinascope:

• Death Count: Wuhan Has Unusually High Sulfur Dioxide Gas
• Death Count: (Unconfirmed) Huoshenshan Hospital Has Emptied 200 Rooms Every Day
• Death Count: Funeral Home Interviews Suggested 500 Corpses Incinerated in Wuhan per Day
• Death Count: Wuhan Incinerated 122 Corpses Per Day Before Coronavirus Outbreak

Continue reading →

The night of February 6, 2020, saw the death of Dr. Li Wenliang, a Wuhan physician who alerted others about novel coronavirus a month ago. He then contracted the virus when working on the front-line treating patients. There was an outcry among intellectuals within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) establishment. They cried out for freedom of speech.

Citizen News, a social diversity advocate news outlet based in Hong Kong, published an open letter signed by leading Chinese intellectuals with five demands:

1. The Designation of February 6 as National Freedom of Speech Day (Dr. Li Wenliang Day).
2. Starting now, fully implement the Chinese people’s right to freedom of speech granted by Article 35 of the Constitution.
3. Starting now, no political forces or state machine should infringe on the Chinese people when they form associations or communicate among each other. The state organs must immediately stop censoring or blocking the content of social media.
4. Grant equal rights to citizens in Wuhan city and Hubei province, the epicenter of the coronavirus. All coronavirus patients should be able to receive timely, proper, and effective treatment.
5. Call for the National People’s Congress to convene an emergency assembly to discuss how to protect citizens’ freedom of speech and do not allow any police force to stop the planned meeting (China holds the National People’s Congress in early March every year).

Scholars associated with China’s leading universities, including Renmin University, Peking University, and Tsinghua University, have signed the open letter. South China Morning Post reported on February 12 that hundreds of Chinese, led by academics, have signed the petition.

China’s Human Rights Attorney Association also called for designating February 6 as “National Truth Day.”

On February 7, a “Notice to All Chinese” was sent out from “a group of Tsinghua University Alumni” with five appeals:

1. Resolutely oppose putting political security above all else; that is the goal of an extremely selfish group.
2. Resolutely oppose blocking discussion groups and individual accounts on social media.
3. Resolutely oppose the current maintenance of the stability mentality and practice; oppose treating the people as the enemy.
4. Resolutely oppose making this disaster a grand party to praise the party; going after the accountability of the officials and the system is a must.
5. Resolutely oppose going backward; adhere to the abolition of the lifelong term of leaders that Deng Xiaoping started.

Related postings on Chinascope:

• Public Opinion: Mourning for Dr. Li Wenliang
• Public Opinion: Outpouring of Grief and Anger upon Death of Chinese Doctor Who Warned Others About Coronavirus

Continue reading →

The night of February 6, 2020, saw the death of Dr. Li Wenliang, the Wuhan physician who alerted others about novel coronavirus a month ago and then contracted the virus himself when he was working on the front line treating patients. His death triggered a public mourning and questioning of the communist regime’s policy of obscurantism.

Within Hours of Dr. Li’s death, the head of the Shanghai branch of People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the CCP central committee, wrote a poem that was widely circulated over Chinese social media. His poem read as follows: “We are angered by how your warning was treated as rumor, and how your death was not rumor [the state-run media denied Li Wenliang’s death for a few hours to buy time to squash the popular outcry] … Now, because of not believing your ‘whistle-blowing,’ the whole country has stopped functioning, and your heart has stopped beating. How many more severe prices do we have to pay to let your voice be heard across the oriental world?”

A comment stated, “Xi Jinping and other officials who hid the information about the epidemic should be tried.”

Another comment said, “It is a tragedy that a country only allows one voice. That will lead to disaster as well.”

Related posting on Chinascope:

• Public Opinion: Outpouring of Grief and Anger upon Death of Chinese Doctor Who Warned Others About Coronavirus

Continue reading →

A twitter account Intelwave posted the following:

“Data from http://windy.com shows a massive release of sulfur dioxide gas from the outskirts of Wuhan, commonly associated with the burning of organic matters.

Current SO₂ levels are extremely elevated, at 1700ug/m^3, where 80ug/m^3 is considered dangerously high.

Poster extrapolated from the SO2 release data and estimated 14,000 bodies would have to be burned to reach this level of emissions.”

Related postings on Chinascope:

• Death Count: (Unconfirmed) Huoshenshan Hospital Has Emptied 200 Rooms Every Day
• Death Count: Funeral Home Interviews Suggested 500 Corpses Incinerated in Wuhan per Day
• Death Count: Wuhan Incinerated 122 Corpses Per Day Before Coronavirus Outbreak

Source: Twitter, February 8, 2020

Data from https://t.co/oDMad8pquE shows a massive release of sulfur dioxide gas from the outskirts of Wuhan, commonly associated with the burning of organic matters. Levels are elevated, even compared with the rest of China. pic.twitter.com/XgBfJd7dDS

— IИГЭLШДБЭ ☢️ (@inteldotwav) February 8, 2020

On February 10, 2020, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Central Military Commission issued new, much stricter regulations on the relationship between the PLA command and the local civil government.

Three departments of the Central Military Commission, including the Political Work Department, the Logistics Support Department, and the Discipline Inspection Commission, jointly issued the “Notice on Strict Regulations on Military-Civil Government Interactions” (“Notice”). The “Notice” listed thirteen “strictly forbidden” items, including:

• It is strictly forbidden for PLA units to accept visits and donations from local civil units, enterprises, and individuals, in the form of money, marketable securities, and other payment vouchers;
• It is strictly forbidden for PLA units to accept visits and donations from local civil units and individuals that may affect the execution of PLA official duties;
• It is strictly forbidden for PLA units to request visits from local civil governments and set standards for their visits or ask them for money or supplies in the name of military-civilian joint construction, job needs, and serving the military officers and soldiers.
• It is strictly forbidden for PLA units to accept cars that the local civil unit or individuals donate;
• …

There have been commentaries that the PLA did this to prevent the military units and local governments from forming alliances. There have been reports that some local governments defied Beijing’s direction on the fight against the novel coronavirus epidemic. Continue reading →