Li Zehua (, born 1995) is a Chinese citizen journalist,

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

, and

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influe ...

. Li was born in

Pingxiang, Jiangxi Pingxiang () is a medium-sized prefecture-level city located in western Jiangxi province, People's Republic of China. Geography and climate Pingxiang is a city situated near the border of Jiangxi with Hunan province. Approximately 110 kilometer ...

. After graduating from the

Communication University of China The Communication University of China (CUC) () is a leading public university in Beijing. It is one of the China's key universities of 'Double First Class University Plan', directly administered by the Ministry of Education of the People's Repu ...

, he joined China Central Television (CCTV) as a television presenter in 2016.

Journalism

2020

During the

COVID-19 pandemic in China The COVID-19 pandemic in China is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). China was the first country to experience an outbreak of the ...

, he resigned from CCTV and found a way to get into

Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei Province in the People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the ninth-most populous Chinese city an ...

, hoping to trace disappeared journalist

Chen Qiushi Chen Qiushi (born September 1985), also known as Steven Chen, is a Chinese lawyer, activist, and citizen journalist who covered the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests and the COVID-19 pandemic which included criticism of the government response. ...

. With the help of locals, he was able to get a car and find a place to stay. In the following days, he used a

vlog A video blog or video log, sometimes shortened to vlog (), is a form of blog for which the medium is video. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded i ...

to report on the pandemic in Wuhan. He disappeared on 26 February 2020, presumed detained by officers from state security. Parts of his chase with the Wuhan authorities was caught on video and uploaded to YouTube. Li was supposedly taken to a police station, where he had fingerprints and blood samples taken, before being taken to an "interrogation room". He was told he was "suspected of disturbing public order", but was told there would be no penalty. Some reports stated that no one had heard from Li since his 26 February 2020, disappearance, while others stated that he returned to the hotel on 28 February. On 22 April 2020, Li posted a video on YouTube, Twitter, and Weibo, and uploaded the English subtitle to YouTube in the following days. According to Li, he was escorted on 26 February to the police station and was under investigation for disrupting public order. Additionally, police detained and quarantined him, citing his visits to sensitive epidemic areas. Li's quarantine was at first in Wuhan, and later moved to his hometown. Li stated that he had been treated well by the police during the detention, and that he had been released on 28 March. According to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', Li's neutral tone in the video was "very different from his previous videos". Activist Ou Biaofeng stated the authorities may have told Li to make the brief statement. At the end of his April 22 post, he quoted the '' Book of Documents'' aphorism, "the mind of man is restless, prone (to err); its affinity to what is right is small. Be discriminating, be uniform (in the pursuit of what is right), that you may sincerely hold fast the Mean." () and gave his own interpretation in English:

2023

In January 2023, Li reappeared in the public light after nearly three years of silence to give an interview, during which he recounted the events leading to his arrest in February 2020 and restated his views on the lack of freedom for Chinese citizens.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Zehua 1995 births 2020s missing person cases Communication University of China alumni CCTV television presenters Chinese journalists Citizen journalists Chinese YouTubers Formerly missing people Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on journalism Living people Mandarin-language YouTube channels Missing person cases in China People from Pingxiang

Journalism

2020

2023

See also

References

External links