"It's very different from anything we have witnessed," said Maria Repnikova, a communications professor at Georgia State University who researches Chinese media. Never have so many Chinese, including victims and health care workers, used their phones to televise their experiences of a disaster, she said. That's partly because the more than 50 million people locked down in cities under quarantine are "really anxious and bored and their lives have pretty much stopped." Official state media extol the Communist Party's massive efforts to build new hospitals in a flash, send in thousands of medical workers and ramp up production of face masks without detailing the underlying conditions that are driving these efforts. Chen did just that in more than 100 posts from Wuhan over two weeks. He showed the sick crammed into hospital corridors and the struggles of residents to get treatment.

"Why am I here? I have stated that it's my duty to be a citizen-journalist," he said, filming himself with a selfie stick outside a train station. "What sort of a journalist are you if you don't dare rush to the front line in a disaster?" A video posted on January 25 showed what Chen said was a body left under a blanket outside an emergency ward. Inside another hospital, he filmed a dead man propped up on a wheelchair, head hanging down and face deathly pale. "What's wrong with him?" he asked a woman holding the man up with an arm across the chest. "He has already passed," she said. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video

'You think I'm scared of the Communist Party?' Chen's posts and vlogs, or video blogs, garnered millions of views – and police attention. In an anguished video post near the end of his first week in Wuhan, he said police had called him, wanting to know where he was, and questioned his parents. "I am scared," he said. "I have the virus in front of me, and on my back, I have the legal and administrative power of China." His voice trembling with emotion and tears welling in his eyes, he vowed to continue "as long as I am alive in this city."

"Even death doesn't scare me!" he said. "So you think I'm scared of the Communist Party?" Chen Qiushi getting emotional as he records a video log that was published on January 30. Credit:Chen Qiushi via AP Last week, Chen's posts dried up. His mother broke the silence with a video post in the small hours of Friday. She said Chen was unreachable and appealed for help in finding him. Later that evening, his friend and well-know mixed martial artist Xu Xiaodong said in a live broadcast on YouTube that Chen had been forcibly quarantined for 14 days, considered the maximum incubation period for the virus. He said Chen had been healthy and showed no signs of infection. On Sunday, Xu tweeted that despite pleading with authorities for a call with Chen, he and others haven't been able to get in touch.

Police also came knocking last week for Fang Bin, who has been posting videos from Wuhan hospitals, including footage of body bags piled in a minibus, waiting to be carted to a crematorium. Fang, a seller of traditional Chinese clothing, filmed a testy exchange through the metal grill of his door with a group of four or five officers. The footage posted on YouTube offered a glimpse into how the security apparatus is working overtime to keep a lid on public anger about the spread of the virus. "Why are there so many of you?" Fang asked. "If I open the door, you'll take me away!"

Chen re-posted that video on his Twitter feed – one of his last tweets before his disappearance. 'A wake-up call for the Chinese people' The death of a Wuhan doctor last week focused attention on earlier attempts to suppress speech, and its consequences. Police had accused Dr Li Wenliang of spreading rumours after he raised alarm in December about the outbreak. He succumbed to the virus, bringing an outpouring of grief, along with anger at authorities for how he had been treated. Wuhan police referred a request for comment to Hubei provincial authorities. Repeated calls to the Hubei foreign affairs office rang unanswered, playing instead a pre-recorded message: "Don't believe rumours, don't spread rumours."

For Gao Fei, a migrant worker detained after criticising Chinese President Xi Jinping over the virus outbreak, the doctor's death and Chen's disappearance are "a wake-up call for the Chinese people." "The number one reason our government couldn't control this is because they always conceal the truth and block information from citizens," he said from his hometown in Hubei. Gao, a welder who had rushed home from southern China right before the lockdown, went to hospitals and drugstores and shared what he saw online. After tweeting that Xi's measures were against humanity, he was detained with drug users and a "rumourmonger" who pointed out overcrowded hospitals. He admires Chen's bravery and push for social progress. "He's the spine, the backbone of China," Gao said.

Since graduating from law school in 2007, Chen has worked as a waiter, hotel cleaner, voice actor, police reporter, and eventually, a TV host, launching a budding media career. He passed the bar in 2014 and began practicing in Beijing. Loading In 2018, Chen started a video blog on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, and quickly amassed over a million fans for his legal commentary. He ran into trouble last year after posting videos of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Travelling to the semi-autonomous Chinese city, he attended both a patriotic pro-Beijing rally and a protest march, showing both sides to give his mainland audience a balanced perspective. In response, authorities shut down his Chinese social media accounts and called him back to the mainland. From Wuhan, Chen has broadcast on YouTube and Twitter, which are blocked in China. Only people who use a virtual private network (VPN) can see the videos. His YouTube page sports the motto: "Don't sing the praises of the wealthy and powerful, speak only for the common people."