What’s trending?

Li Wenliang’s wife has given birth to a second child – four months after the whistleblower doctor lost his life to Covid-19, aged 34, amid massive social media attention.

What’s the story?

On Friday, Li Wenliang’s wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy in Wuhan. A screenshot of Fu Xuejie’s announcement on her WeChat moments has been commented on by 20,000 Weibo users and the “Li Wenliang’s wife gives birth in Wuhan” hashtag has been viewed 52 million times. “Is my husband looking down on us from heaven? His last present to me was born today. I will make sure to love and care for them.”

Wuhan ophthalmologist Li Wenliang died in the early hours of Feb. 7 after several weeks of serious illness with Covid-19. His pregnant wife Fu Xuejie suffered bleeding and low blood pressure following news of her husband’s death, resting in hospital until she had stabilised. She revealed that the family has been telling the couple’s kindergarten-aged first child, “Dad has gone overseas.” (Litchi News)

In his last weeks, before being ventilated and eventually given ECMO treatment in an attempt to circumvent the damage the disease had done, Li Wenliang, who had been reprimanded by local police in January for breaking news of the spread of viral pneumonia to his medical school classmates, called for a country where "there should be more than one voice in a healthy society".

What people are saying online?

Li Wenliang shot to fame due to Covid-19 but his life also struck a chord with many urban Chinese who could relate to his regular food photo postings and ordinary depictions of family life on Weibo. Many posts and comments wish the family and newborn well, calling the child an angel sent from heaven. Some Weibo commentators however worry that if Fu Xuejie remarries, she will face flack online.

Related stories: Gallery: China Mourns Death of ‘Heroic’ Whistleblower Doctor

Contact editor Marcus Ryder (marcusryder@caixin.com)