The late ophthalmologist had reported the coronavirus outbreak back in December, but was silenced by police. Upon hearing of her husband’s death on 6 February, Fu Xuejie, who was pregnant, suffered bleeding and low blood pressure. She celebrated the birth of their second child with a message: “The last gift you gave me was born today.” The “Li Wenliang’s wife gives birth in Wuhan” hashtag has been viewed 52 million times.
Wuhan (AsiaNews) – The wife of Li Wenliang, the ordinary hero who first sounded the alarm about the coronavirus and was threatened for this by the police and his superiors, gave birth to a baby boy yesterday.
Fu Xuejie was pregnant when her husband died on 6 February after he contracted the coronavirus from his patients.
Li Wenliang, 34, was an ophthalmologist. Last December he shared information about an “atypical pneumonia” that was more potent that SARS on social media.
However, police silenced him by accusing him of spreading fake news and his superiors at the hospital where he worked ordered him not to discuss the matter, on pain of dismissal.
Before he died, he sent a message in which he called for a country where “there should be more than one voice in a healthy society”.
His death generated more than half a billion comments on social media, with people demanding freedom of speech and freedom of the press in China.
Upon hearing of her husband’s death, Fu Xuejie suffered bleeding and low blood pressure, and was hospitalised.
The couple already had a five-year-old boy, who was told that his dad had “gone overseas”.
Fu Xuejie shared the baby boy’s picture on instant messaging app WeChat (the Chinese Whatsapp), saying: “Are you seeing this in heaven? The last gift you gave me was born today. I will love and take care of him.”
Li Wenliang was a member of the Chinese Communist Party, but he also visited Protestant chat rooms.
Some 20,000 Weibo (Chinese Twitter) users commented Fu Xuejie’s announcement and the “Li Wenliang’s wife gives birth in Wuhan” hashtag has been viewed 52 million times.