As the coronavirus epidemic continues to spread across China, a few courageous citizens have braved government censorship to document what is happening. One of them is a man known only as Fangbin, a Wuhan resident who was arrested on February 1 after sharing rare videos of the city’s overcrowded hospitals.



Fangbin was born and raised in Wuhan and runs a clothing store there. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus epidemic, he’s taken on a new role – that of a citizen journalist dedicated to showing the world the grim reality in the city now under quarantine. He has been visiting hospitals, taking hard-to-watch videos showing both the ill and the bodies of the deceased. He then posts his videos on his YouTube channel.



After being taken away by officers who came to his home in protective suits, Fangbin was interrogated at a police station and released a few hours later.



According to the US-based rights group Chinese Human Rights Defenders, he is one of at least 325 people who have been detained or otherwise penalised by the Chinese authorities for allegedly “spreading rumours” about the epidemic on social media. Some were threatened in their homes, while others were arrested and then later released like Fanbing. Others, however, are still in prison, the group said.

"Imagine how many people are dying every day"



On February 1, Fangbin went to Wuhan’s public hospital No.5. In just five minutes, he came across eight different bodies. The video has garnered more than a million views on Twitter. Blogger Jennifer Zeng has shared some of Fangbin’s videos along with subtitles.



Bilingual titles added. 8 bodies in 5 minutes! More are lying inside to be moved out. Somebody secretly shot this video from No. 3 Hopital in #Wuhan during #coronarovirus #武汉肺炎

字幕版

某網友秘訪武漢第三醫院，五分钟功夫就見到八具屍體拉走去火化場，而且里面还有。 pic.twitter.com/VBS6U7HIWW 曾錚 Jennifer Zeng (@jenniferatntd) February 1, 2020

In this video, Fangbin approaches a man who is crying next to a bed. “That’s my father,” the man says. “He’s not breathing anymore. It’s over.” Around them, doctors are wearing full protective gear.

The same day, Fangbin went to the Xiehe Hospital, one of the biggest in Wuhan, but said it was impossible to enter. “The hospital is blocked,” he said. “We can’t get in. No one told us. I came here on January 21, before the city was put under quarantine and, even then, there were a lot of people with fevers.”

Feb. 1th#Fangbin : It never notified us that Xihe Hospital is not accepting any more patients.

The hospital is locked and you can’t enter

Xihe Hospital is a very huge hospital#CoronavirusOutbreak #HelpAndSaveOurselves #EveryoneHelpsEveryone pic.twitter.com/vyA54AXXOg 曾錚 Jennifer Zeng (@jenniferatntd) February 5, 2020

Also on February 1, Fangbin went to another hospital in Wuhan where he took a video of an ambulance belonging to a local funeral home with three bodies inside. “Three bodies in this one place – imagine how many people are dying every day,” he says on the video.



Fangbin created a WeChat group (the Chinese equivalent to WhatsApp) that he called “The people must save themselves.”