Soon after the top official in China’s coronavirus-ravaged metropolis of Wuhan urged residents to show gratitude to the Communist Party for containing the contagion, a local literary star penned a stinging rebuke.

“The government is the people’s government; it exists to serve the people,” wrote Wang Fang, a Chinese writer better known by her pen name, Fang Fang, in a social-media post. “Please take back your arrogance and humbly show gratitude to your masters—the millions of Wuhan people.”

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