Thousands of Chinese netizens and scores of rights groups around the world paid tribute to Chinese whistleblower doctor Li Wenliang over the weekend, as Feb. 7 marked the one-year anniversary of his death. Li, an ophthalmologist, was one of eight whistleblowers who took to Chinese social media late December 2019, warning of an “unknown pneumonia” outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Local authorities did not welcome the warning and only confirmed the outbreak after the doctors’ posts went viral. Li was summoned to a police station on Jan. 3 and reprimanded for “rumor-mongering.” At the police station, Li was forced to sign a “confession statement.” The document accused him of “disturbing social order” and “breaking the law” for his online activities. It warned Li that he would be “punished by the law” if he continued to do such “illegal activities.” On Feb. 1 last year, Li took to his …