A song from the musical Les Misérables is making the rounds on Chinese social media after the death of Li Wenliang, the doctor credited as the coronavirus whistleblower.
The musical’s “Can You Hear The People Sing?” has become rallying cry for pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong. In the musical and its 2012 movie adaptation, the song is sung to incite a civilian uprising against the oppressive French monarchy. As protests picked up again in June 2019, Chinese music streaming sites took down the song, citing copyright reasons.
Now, it’s being quoted on social media sites like Weibo as Chinese people grieve the death of a “martyr” and “hero.” But many of the posts praising Li are disappearing, Quartz reports. Read more…
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