Photo of Zhong Nanshan at the Photo Beijing 2020 on Sunday Photo: Xu Liuliu/GT

An obscure Chinese actress has gained widespread attention on China's social media after publicly criticizing Zhong Nanshan, a "national hero for fighting COVID-19," prompting netizens to denounce her for "desperately seeking fame" and a social media platform to silence her for 15 days.

Shen Jiaxin, an actress who was little known to the public, was widely vilified after criticizing Zhong on China's Twitter-like platform Sina Weibo on Thursday.

"You've been busy in front of the lens during the outbreak, do you have any research results? Did you develop any medicines? How many people have you cured? What rational proposal have you given and how many days did you stay in Wuhan?" Shen wrote.

In her post, Shen questioned Zhong's contributions to fighting against the pandemic and mocked his promotion of medicines for alleviating the disease. 

Soon after her bold remarks, Sina Weibo tagged her account, which has more than 1.27 million followers, as a "smear campaign," and silenced her for 15 days. Her post criticizing Zhong has disappeared from her timeline. 

Zhong, 84, has been hailed as a "national hero in combating COVID-19" by the Chinese public. A photo of him on a late night train to Wuhan, Hubei Province at the beginning of the outbreak touched the hearts of many Chinese people. In September, Zhong was awarded "the Medal of the Republic," the country's highest honor.

Shen's post triggered widespread anger on Chinese social media, with netizens pointing out that she just wanted to "gain fame by making stupid and groundless remarks," and demanded that Sina Weibo close down her account forever. 

"Zhong was the first person to tell us the disease can pass from human to human, and saved precious time in containing the virus. He also made great contributions in fighting SARS years ago. His contribution has saved many lives. Shen not only doubted Zhong, she also questioned state authority. She deserves a full ban!" said one Sina Weibo user.  

On Saturday, Huayi Brothers Media Corp, where Shen claimed she is represented, posted a statement saying that it has no connection with Shen and that the firm strongly opposes her action of smearing heroes and role models to gain fame. 

Shen further infuriated netizens by opening a Twitter account that labeled herself as an "actress who got banned for criticizing Zhong Nanshan", while continuing to bash Zhong and complain about the domestic ban and ensuing criticism. 

However, it cannot be verified that this account was opened by Shen.

"I thought that maybe Sina Weibo went too far in silencing her. But now I know it wasn't. She's just a national traitor, or supported by anti-China forces," said zuozijide mars, a Sina Weibo user. 

Global Times