Recently, the forcible shutdown of the Shanghai laboratory belonging to China’s renowned virologist Zhang Yongzhen has caused a major uproar. After three days of protest by Zhang Yongzhen and his team, they were allowed to temporarily return to work at the laboratory.
In the early hours of May 1st, Beijing time, Zhang Yongzhen posted on Weibo, stating, “After coordination with relevant authorities, it has been preliminarily agreed to restore the normal scientific research activities in our laboratory. Currently, team members are temporarily allowed to enter and exit the laboratory freely.”
“In the future, under the coordination of higher authorities, we will further communicate and negotiate with the public health center on issues such as the relocation plan for the laboratory, ensuring the normal life and work of students during the transition period, unfinished parts of the research cooperation agreements between the team and the center, as well as unresolved personal matters,” Zhang added.
Previously, Zhang Yongzhen’s team stated that on April 25th, the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center informed the team without prior communication that they had to vacate the laboratory within two days, catching the team off guard.
On April 29th, the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center issued a statement online, claiming that Zhang’s laboratory was closed during renovations for “safety reasons” and provided an alternative laboratory for Zhang’s team.
On the same day, Zhang Yongzhen responded, stating that the team only received an alternative solution after receiving the eviction notice and that the provided laboratory did not meet the safety standards required for conducting research, putting his team in a difficult situation.
Subsequently, Zhang Yongzhen camped outside the laboratory, staging a three-day sit-in. Images circulating online showed Zhang Yongzhen sitting on a flat cardboard in the drizzling rain outside, with his team members displaying a banner that read, “Resume normal scientific research work.” The news continued to proliferate on social media platforms.
During this period, Zhang Yongzhen posted multiple times on Weibo, saying, “Another extraordinary night, fortunately, there is no rain like last night, thank my students for accompanying me. Of course, there are also more security guards!” “Thanks to my students, taking turns guarding me at night! Numerous security guards speak loudly and record videos to keep you awake!”
Zhang Yongzhen is a well-known virologist in mainland China. At the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, on January 5th, Zhang Yongzhen’s laboratory reported sequencing the virus’s entire genome and publicly released the virus’s genome sequence on January 11th. The journal “Nature” described the release of this sequence as a turning point in the global fight against the pandemic.
According to reports from the Associated Press, since Zhang Yongzhen publicly disclosed the genome sequence of the novel coronavirus without approval from the Chinese Communist Party in January 2020, he has continuously faced setbacks, suppression, and has been prohibited from collaborating with some former research partners. He was also relieved of his duties at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Analysis of the reports indicates that Zhang Yongzhen has garnered support from some individuals. Although the initial post revealing the abrupt closure of the Shanghai laboratory was deleted, there are still images and posts on Weibo showing Zhang Yongzhen’s peaceful protest, with mainland Chinese media extensively covering the situation. This suggests that there are internal divisions within the Chinese Communist Party on how to handle Zhang and his team’s issues.