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China's social media channels were awash with anger following news of whistleblower doctor Li Wenliang's death.

The topics "Wuhan government owes Dr. Li Wenliang an apology," and "We want freedom of speech," quickly trended on China's Twitter-like platform, Weibo. Each gained tens of thousands of views before disappearing from the heavily censored platform.

Another topic, called "I want freedom of speech," had drawn 1.8 million views as of early Friday morning local time.

Under the Wuhan Central Hospital's statement about Li's death, a top comment read, "Countless young people will mature overnight after today: the world is not as beautiful as we imagined. Are you angry? If any of us here is fortunate enough to speak up for the public in the future, please make sure you remember tonight's anger."

Why this matters: The outpouring of grief and anger was made worse by initial confusion. State media first published then retracted reports of his death -- leading to allegations they were trying to cover it up.

The push against Chinese censors and calls for freedom are rarely seen -- under Chinese President Xi Jinping, control over the media and internet has increased, and tolerance for dissent has practically disappeared.

Anger in China against the authorities, and their handling of the crisis, had already been growing for weeks. Now, Li's death could become the straw that breaks the camel's back.

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