China saw a spate of protests last month – the most widespread in decades – which led to the authorities easing some stringent COVID-19 curbs.
The demonstrations began on 25 November and soon spread to at least 20 Chinese cities, with some protesters reportedly calling for President Xi Jinping to “step down”.
While several videos and pictures from the protests emerged on social media, there was one Twitter account that fervently shared numerous posts showing the defiance of people against China’s harsh zero-COVID policy.
The account named ‘Teacher Li is not your teacher’ has gathered over 800,000 followers since sharing footage of protests from across China.
Who is ‘Teacher Li’ who used his account to bring the world’s attention to the biggest protests in China in a generation? How did he become a part of it? Let’s take a closer look.
Who is ‘Teacher Li’?
According to an MIT Technology Review report, Li, who wanted to be identified only by his last name because of security risks, is a Chinese painter based in Italy.
He started working as a part-time teacher at a young age and ‘Teacher Li’ is one of his nicknames, reported Radio Free Asia.
As per The Telegraph, 30-year-old Li shared the videos from the protests last month at the Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou on his Twitter account, unknowingly putting himself in the middle of the dissent that was to follow.
Notably, China has banned Twitter but those with a VPN can access it.
Li, who grew up in China’s Anhui province, told MIT Technology Review that he posted videos and pictures and real-time updates of the protests in China which he received through private messages.
Before Twitter, Li used Weibo – China’s version of the Elon Musk-owned app – to spread information about what was happening in the Asian giant. However, his account was suspended every time he posted something that was not liked by the authorities, reported The Telegraph.
“I would open a new Weibo account every time I got suspended as a way to resist the control of freedom of speech,” he told the UK newspaper.
As per Al Jazeera, Li started his Twitter account as a “personal outlet focused on everyday musings” but later he ventured into sharing content about China.
ALSO READ: What’s next for China after mass COVID-19 protests?
How was ‘Teacher Li’ entangled in recent protests?
As violent clashes erupted between police and workers at an iPhone factory run by Apple supplier Foxconn in Zhengzhou, Li used his Twitter account to spread footage from the scenes on 23 November.
He told Radio Free Asia that he slept only for three hours that night.
Then, a few days later, a blaze broke out at an apartment block in Urumqi, the capital of the western Xinjiang region, which triggered an unusual wave of protests against China’s strict COVID-19 curbs.
Again, Li used his medium to reveal what was happening in China.
“I was the person chosen by history to blow this horn,” Li told The Telegraph. “I was pushed into this position; I had no choice but to continue,” he added.
The Chinese painter said that at the height of protests in China, he was getting “dozens of submissions per second”, reported The Telegraph.
ALSO READ: Deaths of children, bus accident and more: The many horrors of China’s zero-COVID policy
“People all over the country are telling me about their real-time situations. In order for more people not to be in danger, they went to the [protest] sites themselves and sent me what was going on there. Like, some followers were riding bikes near the presidential palace in Nanjing, taking pictures, and telling me about the situation in the city. And then they asked me to inform everyone to be cautious. I think that’s a really moving thing,” he told MIT Technology Review.
At least 20 cities in China witnessed protests against strict COVID norms. AP
“Due to the non-stop news coming and new information, I became a follower and gradually began to start recording things from a news-reporting perspective, but I didn’t realise [the protests] wouldn’t end, from Foxconn to Urumqi and then all the big cities across the country,” Li was quoted as saying by Al Jazeera.
On how he verified such a large amount of footage he was receiving, the teacher told Radio Free Asia that he judges the “authenticity of content from experience”.
“Also, if more than a dozen people contribute from the same event at the same time, it is basically possible to judge the authenticity of the reports. If only one person contributes something that sounds exaggerated, then it’s probably fake news,” he stated.
Li told The Telegraph that although he tried to verify most of the content before sharing, he later decided to post as many videos as possible so they could be archived on Twitter.
However, Li — who calls himself a “citizen journalist” — has to bear the cost of his work.
He has received death threats and insults in his direct messages. The mention of his account name has been censored in China on social media platforms such as Weibo and WeChat, as per MIT Technology Review.
Moreover, his parents who live in China got a visit from the police last week.
“If I am never able to see my family again, indeed the price is very, very high,” he told The Telegraph. “I don’t really know if it’s worth it because I’m not in a mood to ponder that.”
As several Chinese cities have finally started easing the coronavirus restrictions following the large-scale protests, Li told the UK daily that he is “realistic” about how much would actually change in Beijing.
He said, in any case, we will remember that “some brave people stood up”.
With inputs from agencies
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