<p>Iconic figures are social and cultural constructions that are usually believed to represent the sacred and/or the extraordinary, but scholars have paid less attention to “ordinary icons,” those figures whose iconicity revolves around their ordinariness. Dr. Li Wenliang, the Chinese doctor who warned about the COVID-19 virus and later died from the virus, was a typical “ordinary icon.” Drawing on theories of icon and iconicity, event as drama, and authoritarian politics, and an in-depth study of numerous texts collected from traditional and social media, this article aims to identify the primary features of “ordinary icons” and explain their iconization. An “ordinary icon” is perceived, labeled, and interpreted by the public as an “ordinary person” to express various social and political meanings. Its iconization can be explained by the deep cultural structure, event, and political structure. In this case, Dr. Li became an “ordinary icon” because of: (1) the cultural structure in China and its recent changes, particularly individualization, which separates individuals’ private life from the state and emphasizes individuals’ rights, dignity, and values; (2) dramatic moments, critical junctures, and corresponding public interpretations during China’s COVID crisis; 3) China’s authoritarian political structure, which shapes the specific articulations of the cultural codes and the event flow. All the factors worked together at different moments of the pandemic and made Dr. Li a multivocal icon of ordinariness.</p>