the center of the coronavirus epidemic.

(speaking in foreign language)

And this is footage of a hospital under construction.

(speaking in foreign language)

Behind the camera are two vloggers,

who have become sensations in China.

Fang Bin is a resident of Wuhan

and Chen Qiushi, a human rights lawyer.

The two vloggers who were known in China

as citizen journalists published unfiltered video reports

as the crisis unfolded in late January and early February,

scenes that haven't appeared

in China's tightly controlled state media.

(speaking in foreign language)

But they stopped posting videos in early February.

(scuffling)

Fellow activists and relatives said they have disappeared.

(speaking in foreign language)

Chen's mother posted a video

saying she wasn't able to contact her son,

according to a friend, the police told Chen's father,

that his son was held in quarantine.

Activists say neighbors of Fang

saw a uniformed and plain clothes police officers

take him away, the activists haven't seen him since.

Even if their images were only available online

for days or even hours, China experts say it is unusual

for Beijing authorities to let this form of open criticism

appear before censoring content

or clamping down on its creators.

Many citizens have spoken up from doctors and nurses

to people stuck at home and patients,

(speaking in foreign language)

challenging the official narrative

of hospitals being speedily built from scratch

and armies of volunteers

orderly working to contain the epidemic.

So how are these videos critical of authorities

getting out into the public?

Beijing officials have said there is a genuine desire

to promote accurate information about the epidemic

and block false reports that could increase panic.

Nonetheless the anger in China came to a tipping point

late January after people accused local authorities

of trying to cover up what was happening.

- [Bao] People was not informed in the three to four weeks.

What we have witnessed is the revolt of the Chinese people.

- [Narrator] Bao Pu publishes books from Hong Kong

on topics that are censored by Beijing.

He says people grew frustrated when they saw

the healthcare system was overwhelmed by the coronavirus,

especially after the SARS epidemic,

that took nearly 800 lives in 2002 and 2003.

- [Bao] People generally expect the government

have learned the lessons of the SARS epidemic,

so they should have developed various mechanisms

to prevent that from ever happening.

- [Narrator] Pu says the speed

at which the criticism piled up online might be too hard

for China's censorship apparatus to manage

and that is one reason Chinese citizens

have managed to share content online.

Tens of millions have been stuck at home

leading to a surge in the number of people

reading and using social media.

Another explanation according to researchers

might be that in this situation,

Beijing needs information to keep flowing.

- Because this is a health crisis,

people also need to talk about supplies and access

and they need to be able to discuss this,

otherwise they're kind of stuck at home in quarantine zones

and it becomes really insufferable,

so they can't completely censor all discussions.

- [Narrator] Maria Repnikova analyzes

how Beijing censors its citizens

and says she believes the government

intentionally opened the doors to criticism.

- It's useful in some ways to learn about what's happening,

while it's only the early stages of the crisis,

the state officials at the local central level

still don't quite know what are the bigger issues,

what are the big frustrations,

it's kind of a way to get public opinion on this,

try to understand the grievances and then respond to that.

- [Narrator] Repnikova has interviewed

over 100 Chinese journalists and officials about big crises

like mining disasters or the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

She noticed there's a limited window of opportunity

for journalists to cover these events

and citizens to complain.

Repnikova says during the Sichuan earthquake,

the government started to tape mouths shut,

when journalists reported that poorly built schools

had contributed to the deaths of hundreds of children.

In Wuhan, Fang Bin was able to publish

33 videos in 16 days on YouTube.

One video he posted online shows that he had run ins

with people who identified themselves

as local health officials,

who wanted to check Fang's health,

because he had visited a hospital.

(speaking in foreign language)

(scuffling)

Fang said the men confiscated his computer and phone,

then drove him to the outskirts of the city

to continue questioning him,

activists say he disappeared a week later.

(sobbing)

A Chinese diplomat was asked about Fang

during a TV interview.

- So I believe the relevant authorities

and departments in China, the legal departments

are dealing with the case in accordance with law.

(speaking in foreign language)

- [Narrator] Authorities have made no public statement

about Chen's disappearance or Fang's whereabouts.

The disappearance of both men in early February

happened around the time when the death toll in China

came closer to surpassing the one from SARS.

This is also approximately when Beijing

began ramping up efforts to create a new narrative

that things were under control.

Even though Chinese officials have continually offered

assurances that the epidemic is being successful managed,

(speaking in foreign language)

state controlled media have now put the blame

on local authorities for a slow response

to contain the outbreak in Wuhan,

while praising central authorities

for quickly pouring resources into the center of the crisis.

- Many of these crises are also opportunities

for political systems to come out as the winners or victors

or kind of as being in charge of this state of affairs.

- [Narrator] About a month

after the disappearance of Chen and Fang,

health officials said the number of new infections

had fallen dramatically in China,

authorities reported new infections in double digits,

down from hundreds of cases a day.

The outcry on Chinese social media, even if short lived

shows that many people in the country don't buy

the government's message that the crisis is under control.

(somber string music)