Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Find out how to listen to other BBC stations

Episode details

Radio 4,27 Apr 2020,14 mins

Available for over a year

How the coronavirus crisis has exposed fissures and faultlines in nations around the world. The pandemic has challenged China’s notoriously tight grip on the flow of information. A doctor in Wuhan who last year tried to warn colleagues about a strange new virus was scolded by police for spreading "rumours”. Dr Li Wenliang later caught Covid-19 and gained a huge following on social media from his hospital bed. “I think there should be more than one voice in a healthy society,” he said - an unusually pointed political comment in China. News of his death prompted grief and rage, rattling party officials. Their response revealed both how China can mobilise quickly in response to a crisis - and an underlying political culture of fear, deference and secrecy. Presenter: Neal Razzell Producer: Anna Meisel

Programme Website
More episodes