Beijing's dangerous groupthink epidemic

The virus spreading across China carries lessons for us all

The eruption of anger on China’s so­cial media platforms after the death late last week of Li Wenliang, a doctor in Wuhan who raised the alarm about the outbreak of a mysterious pneumonia-like virus witnessed at the city’s hospitals several weeks before the local and national government declared an emergency on January 22, has been so unrestrained that it appeared as if Communist censors have gone on strike. There have been images of the brave doctor wearing a respirator in the last days of his life, but also remarkably copies of his “confession” to the police who prosecuted him for