Where is Chen Qiushi?

A screenshot of Chen Qiushi in Wuhan to document the coronavirus there

People who have been following lawyer and citizen journalist Chen Qiushi are asking where he is.

In the last few days he has been missing and now he has been "quarantined" but no one knows where.

Some may remember the Qingdao native who came to Hong Kong in August to report on the anti-government protests. He made videos of the protests and posted them on YouTube, challenging state media reports that claimed all the protesters were rioters and separatists.

In August he was in Hong Kong

Instead Chen said most of them were peaceful. "Not all of them are rioters," the 34-year-old said in one of his videos.

He was summoned back to Beijing, and after he returned, he was harassed and silenced by the authorities. His social media accounts, including Weibo that had 740,000 followers, were deleted.

But he vowed to continue to speak out.

When news of the epicentre of the coronavirus was in Wuhan, Chen got on a train on Chinese New Year eve to go there and report what was happening. He promised he would tell the truth, that he would not spread rumours, that he would try to protect himself from the coronavirus the best he could, and he would not leave Wuhan if he caught the virus.

He made videos interviewing people who were sick and desperate for a hospital bed, he interviewed nurses and doctors, one of whom confirmed there were corpses in the hospital hallways covered in sheets but they didn't know if they had died of the coronavirus. He also saw the unsanitary conditions in the hospitals with used gloves, masks and vomit everywhere.

He posted videos, talking about corpses in hospital hallways

At the same time he had to watch his back with the authorities knowing he was there and didn't want him out reporting on his own. They forced him to move out of his hostel, his WeChat account would be blocked if he posted another video on the app.

And now Chen has been missing since February 6. His friend posted a video of Chen's mother the following day, saying her son had disappeared.

"I'm here to beg everyone online, especially friends in Wuhan to help find Qiushi, find out what's going on with him," she said.

Then later that evening Xu Xiaodong, a well-known mixed martial artist, posted a video saying that Chen had been forced into quarantine.

"In the last few hours the Qingdao public security officers and state security officers... notified Qiushi's parents that Qiushi has already been detained in the name of quarantine. Qiushi's' mother immediately asked them where and when he was taken away, they declined to say," said Xu.

Chen (left) with friend and MMA fighter Xu Xiaodong

Xu stressed that in his conversations with Chen, he was in good health before he disappeared.

Chen's friends worry about him, but also that he might be infected with the virus.

Are people looking for him? Will he be found? As some have said online, we cannot have another Li Wenliang...