Who Is Li Tiantian? Concerns After Outspoken Chinese Teacher "Disappears"

Who is Li Tiantian: The alleged disappearance of a teacher in China has sparked a wave of concern on social media, with calls being made to locate her whereabouts. Identified as Li Tiantian, an educator at a rural school in Hunan in the southern part of the country, she allegedly stands accused of making unacceptable social media posts.

Certain reports suggest the 27-year-old is being held at a psychiatric hospital. Tiantian is currently pregnant.

Last week on Chinese social media platform Weibo, Tiantian wrote in support of a lecturer who was fired by the college she taught at in Shanghai. Song Gengyi, the lecturer in question, had raised questions on the Chinese government's official data of the deaths in the 1937 Nanjing Massacre.

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A video of Gengyi's lecture went viral after one of her students posted it on social media. Tiantian, in her Weibo post, weighed in on the controversy, saying the institution that fired Gengyi deserved to be questioned, Radio Free Asia reports. She further called out China's intellectual community for remaining silent on the matter.

According to reports, containment of dissenting individuals at psychiatric wards is not unheard of in China, where censorship is severely tight. Surprisingly, Chinese authorities, which are quick to wipe out search traces of protest from social media too, have permitted questions around Tiantian's whereabouts to abound. Netizens in China are flooding the internet with posts expressing worry and anger over the treatment of Tiantian.

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Tiantian had allegedly issued cries for help on social media over the weekend, a few days after she made her controversial post, saying authorities had attempted to commit her to psychiatric care for mental issues. She was also allegedly threatened by local officials.

This was not the first time Tiantian raised her voice in public over an issue. The New York Times reports she first rose to prominence in 2019 after she strongly criticised constant school inspections, citing it affected the work of teachers. Any attempts to contact Tiantian in the present time have turned up futile.

Meanwhile, concern has also gripped the sporting world, which is apprehensive about the status of China's top tennis star Peng Shuai. Last month, the 35-year-old in an explosive now-deleted social media post alleged she was sexually assaulted by a senior Communist Party leader. Amid doubts over her well-being, given her complete disappearance from the internet following the #MeToo allegations, she recently appeared to have withdrawn her complaint. Follow the case here.