BEIJING: An obscure Chinese actress has gained widespread attention on China’s social media after publicly criticizing Zhong Nanshan, a “national hero for fighting COVID-19,” prompting netizens to denounce her for “desperately seeking fame” and a social media platform to silence her for 15 days.
Shen Jiaxin, an actress who was little known to the public, was widely vilified after criticizing Zhong on China’s Twitter-like platform Sina Weibo on Thursday.
“You’ve been busy in front of the lens during the outbreak; do you have any research results? Did you develop any medicines? How many people have you cured? What rational proposal have you given and how many days did you stay in Wuhan?” Shen wrote.
In her post, Shen questioned Zhong’s contributions to fighting against the pandemic and mocked his promotion of medicines for alleviating the disease.
Soon after her bold remarks, Sina Weibo tagged her account, which has more than 1.27 million followers, as a “smear campaign,” and silenced her for 15 days. Her post criticizing Zhong has disappeared from her timeline. Zhong, 84, has been hailed as a “national hero in combating COVID-19” by the Chinese public. A photo of him on a late night train to Wuhan, Hubei Province at the beginning of the outbreak touched the hearts of many Chinese people. In September, Zhong was awarded “the Medal of the Republic,” the country’s highest honor. Shen’s post triggered widespread anger on Chinese social media, with netizens pointing out that she just wanted to “gain fame by making stupid and groundless remarks,” and demanded that Sina Weibo close down her account forever.
“Zhong was the first person to tell us the disease can pass from human to human, and saved precious time in containing the virus. He also made great contributions in fighting SARS years ago. His contribution has saved many lives. Shen not only doubted Zhong, she also questioned state authority. She deserves a full ban!” said one Sina Weibo user. – The Daily Mail-Global Times News exchange item
