Authorities in the central Chinese province of Hunan are believed to be holding a teacher in a psychiatric hospital after she spoke out over the expulsion of a Shanghai journalism lecturer who encouraged her students to verify official accounts of the Nanjing massacre.
Schoolteacher Li Tiantian, who is currently pregnant, issued a cry for help on the social media platform Weibo Moments on Sunday after officials from her hometown of Shaba in Hunan's Yongshun county tried to have her committed for psychiatric care.
She said officials wanted her committed to psychiatric hospital for injections for "mental problems." "If I die, that will be two lives gone," she said, in a reference to her unborn child.
Hunan-based current affairs commentator Li Ang told RFA that Li is now incarcerated in a psychiatric hospital.
"She was let go because she was telling the truth on the internet," Li Ang said. "She spoke out in support of Song Gengyi, the lecturer in Shanghai, and the authorities came round and threatened her."
"I heard she was sent to the psychiatric hospital for 'treatment' today, but I was unable to verify that," he said. "She was threatened by officials from the local education bureau and police."
Sources said she is likely being held in the Yongshun County Psychiatric Hospital.
Li's comments were posted on Weibo on Friday after Shanghai Aurora College said it had fired lecturer Song Gengyi for questioning the Chinese government’s official death toll of 300,000 for the 1937 massacre.
Song's lecture was recorded and posted online by Dong Xun, one of her students.
In the clip, Song calls the 300,000 deaths tally used by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) a "rough estimate that lacks statistical support" adding that there is a very wide range of estimates of casualties.
Li chimed in on Friday, saying she didn't see any problem with Song's lecture, but rather with the student who informed on her and the school that fired her, and the Chinese intellectuals who have kept quiet on the matter.
Repeated calls to Li Tiantian's cell phone rang unanswered on Monday.
Some online comments hit out at Dong Xun, doxxing him, prompting him to respond with a short video on sharing platform Douyin.
"This wasn't a trivial matter, but rather a matter of national historical importance," Dong said. "She's the one who made it a big deal, so we'll see how she deals with it now."
Some comments berated Dong for a lack of conscience, while another remarked acidly: "So the teacher who tells the truth will be replaced with one who will brainwash you."
A photo circulating on social media showed a banner calling on Dong Xun to "get out of Shanghai Aurora."
Hubei-based rights activist Wu Lijuan said she was angry at Dong for informing on Song, adding that the video of the lecture had been dishonestly edited.
"This was reported out context, because the lecturer said estimates ranged from 500,000 to 300,000 to 30,000 to 3,000," Wu told RFA. "They deleted the part where she says 500,000 from the video clip."
On the same day that Song was dismissed, Tsingtao staff lecturer Gao Weijia had her teaching license revoked and was transferred to a non-teaching role after she said in a Weibo post that young people should "feel free" to visit the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, that includes memorials to convicted Japanese war criminals.
Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.