Covid-19 changed people way’s living in many ways, especially when it first appeared. The Chinese government reacted quickly and put the entire country into quarantine which was very effective. However, there are quite some systemic injustices exposed during the government regulation. This one is very famous and commonly known by a lot of people. Doctor Wenliang Li was a doctor who noticed the new kind of virus, which was Covid-19, started telling people around him to be careful and protect themselves. However, he didn’t expect that he was detained for “spreading rumors”. What he said was considered as “false information” which might cause social instability.
This is clearly a systemic injustice that the authorities should improve immediately. Instead of telling people to stop talking, I think they should at least verify the information. Later on, the central government investigated the local authorities in Wuhan after Li’s death. They found multiple protocol injustices of the local authorities detaining doctor Li. Eventually, the central government apologized to Li’s family and gave Li the title of martyr. This shows that there might also be a lot of systemic injustice in different local authorities but this is the most significant one that raises the attention of the Chinese central government. I believe the central government should enforce the supervision of local authorities to avoid such circumstances. Here’s a news story about doctor Li.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51409801
Dr. Zhong also commented on him as a hero saying that this time the Chinese government encourages people to tell more thanks to doctor Li.
This is actually very similar to Persepolis. A person who wants to do the right thing even the authority forbids it. Doctor Li also chooses to do the thing that he believes to be correct. He knows what he is facing but he didn’t give in that Chinese people give a lot of respect to him. There’s one thing that is different. Marji chooses to leave to a place to pursue her life. Doctor Li chooses to offer as much as he has to warn people. He is a whistle-blower and a hero. He is strong enough to face the system and change the systemic injustice with his hands. It turned out that he did it, with his life. It’s understandable that most people might choose to be like Marji to live their own lives, but I think we should give more respect to people like Doctor Li.
Learn more about Doctor Li:
Work cited:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/08/opinions/coronavirus-bociurkiw/index.html
http://www.mnw.cn/news/shehui/2247594.html
https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1661642945986992301&wfr=spider&for=pc