Ruan Xiaohuan

Ruan Xiaohuan (Chinese: 阮晓寰; pinyin: Ruǎn Xiǎohuán; 10 June 1977 – ) is a Chinese dissident, blogger, and InfoSec specialist. In 2009, Ruan started a blog named ProgramThink (Chinese: 编程随想; pinyin: Biānchéng Suíxiǎng) on Blogger, covering various topics from network security, methods to bypass the internet blockade in mainland China, to his own political views and critics of the Chinese Communist Party and the government. He was captured on 10 May 2021, and then formally arrested on 17 June 2021, for ‘inciting subversion of state power’. On 10 February 2023, a first-instance judgement was issued by the Shanghai No 2 Intermediate People's Court, sentencing him to seven years of imprisonment with two years of deprivation of political rights and a confiscation of property of 20,000 Chinese Yuan.[1][2][3]

In this Chinese name, the family name is Ruan.
Ruan Xiaohuan
阮晓寰
Born (1977-06-10) 10 June 1977
Quanzhou, Fujian, China
NationalityChinese
Alma materEast China University of Science and Technology (dropout)
Occupation(s)Blogger, InfoSec specialist, political commentator
AwardsThe BOBs (weblog award) (2013, nominated)
Websiteprogram-think.blogspot.com (Chinese)
Ruan Xiaohuan
Criminal statusAppealed; second-instance hearing awaits
Criminal chargeInciting subversion of state power
Penalty7 years in prison;
2 years of deprivation of political rights;
confiscation of property of 20,000 Chinese Yuan
Capture status
on remand
Date apprehended
10 May 2021
Ruan Xiaohuan
Simplified Chinese阮晓寰
Traditional Chinese阮曉寰

Early life and work

Ruan was born on 10 June 1977, in Quanzhou, Fujian, to Zhuang Xiuzhu and Professor Ruan Wenling. Ruan’s mother, Zhuang Xiuzhu, is a member of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang (RCCK), while his father, Ruan Wenling, is a retired Chinese literature Professor who worked at Huaqiao University and a member of the China Democratic League (CDL).[4][5]

By the age of 13, while he was still in secondary school, he joined a computer enthusiasts group and became fascinated with information technology. According to an interview by the Software and Information Services magazine (2010(10):19), he was genuinely impressed by DOS viruses, which inspired him to learn assembly language and C.[6]

Ruan went on to study chemistry at the East China University of Science and Technology in 1996 but later dropped out to pursue his career in IT industries.[6]

Ruan served as a chief engineer of the Information Security System used in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.[1]

Blog ‘ProgramThink’ and Project ‘zhao’

On 15 January 2009, Ruan created his blog ‘ProgramThink’ on Blogger. For the first few months, the blog only focused on computer technology and software development. Later, a massive wave of internet blockade was carried out in mainland China around the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen protest, which led Ruan to turn his blog to focus on methods to bypass the blockade.[7]

Several social incidents in 2010 and 2011, such as the death of Qian Yunhui and the 2011 Chinese pro-democracy protests, inspired Ruan to write more about politics.[7]

In February 2016, Ruan started the project "zhao" on GitHub (also known as the "Princeling Network Map"), to collect information that was publicly reported by credible media on high-level Chinese officials (the so-called ‘Princelings’) so as to prove that these high-level officials are inter-connected and corrupt.

On 8 June 2016, GitHub received a letter from the Cyber Security Association of China, claiming that the aforesaid project of Ruan ‘vilifies our President Xi’, and therefore they requested that the project to be removed ‘at the earliest time possible’. GitHub, however, chose to make this letter public and not to remove the project.[8][9]

Ruan kept writing his blog at a regular pace before his capture, shared his thoughts and criticisms of the ruling CCP and the Chinese government, and popularised many political concepts as well as general knowledge in various fields. Before he was taken away, he had written a total of 712 blog posts.

Disappearance
Notice of Arrest received by the family of Ruan Xiaohuan (translated).[lower-alpha 1]

Ruan disappeared around the middle of May 2021,[10][11][12] later confirmed by the first-instance judgement that he was taken away on 10 May 2021, with his residence in Shanghai raided the same day.

Several rumours surfaced after his disappearance; speculations widespread varied from being secretly detained to passing away from long-term illnesses.[13] However, most of them were proved untrue after his wife openly spoke out for help in the middle of March 2023.

Secret court hearing and sentence
Wikisource has original text related to this article:

On 10 February 2023, the Shanghai No 2 Intermediate People's Court issued the first-instance judgement of the case of Ruan, sentencing him to seven years of imprisonment with two years of deprivation of political rights and a confiscation of property of 20,000 Chinese Yuan.[14]

According to the judgement and interviews of Ruan's wife, the court carried out a closed hearing on Ruan's case for its ‘involvement of state secrets’.[2]

Upon trial, Ruan was charged with and found guilty of ‘inciting subversion of state power’ for ‘composing over one hundred (100) seditious essays of rumours and libel, attacked and smeared the current political system of our country, incited subversion of the state power, and attempted to overthrow the socialist system’.[14]

Ruan refused to accept the first-instance ruling and had appealed to the Shanghai High People's Court the day he received the judgement in the detention centre.[2]

After his appeal, it was reported that there was pressure from the authorities to prevent him and his family from freely appointing defence counsel, with intentionally imposed impediments to bar him from seeing his lawyer.[2] In addition, his wife, Mrs Bei, reportedly suffered frequent harassment from the local police.

Reactions

On 23 March 2023, PEN America and PEN International issued a joint statement, condemned the sentence, and called for an immediate release.[15]

On 7 April 2023, Ruan’s parents wrote a letter to the Shanghai People’s Procuratorate, questioning the result of the first-instance judgement, appealing to the Procuratorate against the propriety and legitimacy of the approaches of the presiding judge of the first-instance trial in obstructing Ruan’s family to appoint defence counsel according to their free will.[4]

See also

Notes
  1. This is the notice of formal arrest issued to the family of Ruan Xiaohuan. In mainland China, there often comes an interval of usually no longer than 37 days between one being captured and detained (which is called the ‘criminal detention’) and formal arrest.

References
  1. Gao, Feng (22 March 2023). "Shanghai court jails blogger for seven years over 'subversive' posts". Radio Free Asia. Washington, D.C. Archived from the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  2. Wu, Yitong; Cheng, Wen (22 March 2023). Fang, Dehao; Liu, Dingjian (eds.). "Legendary Chinese blogger 'ProgramThink' sentenced to seven years for 'inciting subversion'; petition called for release signed by netizens (中國傳奇博主「編程隨想」「煽顛」判 7 年　網民聯署要求放人)". Radio Free Asia (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Washington, D.C. Archived from the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  3. Gan, Nectar (29 March 2023). "An influential Chinese blogger disappeared from the internet. This woman says she knows why". CNN. Hong Kong. Archived from the original on 29 March 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  4. Wu, Yitong; Cheng, Wen (14 April 2023). Bi, Zimo (ed.). "With black-box operations and a law-twisting judge, the family of 'Program-Think' obstructed in lawful processes of redress-seeking (「編程隨想」案黑箱操作法官枉法裁判　家屬依法申冤遇重重障礙)". Radio Free Asia (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Washington, D.C. Archived from the original on 19 April 2023. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  5. Cao, Yaokun (16 August 2016). "Zhuang Xiuzhu—the first ever person who travelled from Quanzhou to Taiwan in 1988 for a family reunion and to pay tribute to her late father (泉州赴台奔丧第一人——追记庄秀珠 1988 年夏跨海追悼先父)". Library of Literary and Historical Materials of Quanzhou (泉州文史资料全文库) (in Chinese (China)). Quanzhou. Archived from the original on 19 April 2023. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  6. Lu, Min (2010). "A Technology Enthusiast—Ruan Xiaohuan (技术热衷者：阮晓寰)". Software and Information Services (软件和信息服务) (in Chinese (China)) (10): 19. ISSN 1674-9332.
  7. Ruan, Xiao Huan (11 April 2013). "My journey of blogging (俺写博客的历程)". Deutsche Welle (in Chinese (China)). Bonn, Germany. Archived from the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  8. Horwitz, Josh (28 June 2016). "China's fierce censors try a new tactic with GitHub—asking nicely". Quartz. New York City. Archived from the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  9. Github (8 June 2016). "Takedown Request from Cyber Security Association of China". Archived from the original on 2023-03-29. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  10. Li, Jane (22 July 2021). "A legendary Chinese dissident blogger has suddenly fallen silent". Quartz. New York City. Archived from the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  11. Wang, Yaqiu (7 July 2021). "Chinese Cyber Legend Vanishes, Raising Concerns". Human Rights Watch. New York City. Archived from the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  12. Turland, Jesse (23 July 2021). "Ghost in the Machine: A Faceless, Famous Chinese Blogger Goes Silent". The Diplomat. Washington, D.C. Archived from the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  13. Chan, John (24 June 2021). "Translation: 'Program-Think', Notorious Anonymous Chinese Blogger, Feared Detained". China Digital Times. California. Archived from the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  14. People v Ruan Xiaohuan (inciting subversion of state power) [2021] Hu 02 Xing Chu No 67 (Shanghai No 2 Intermediate People’s Court, 10 February 2023).Text
  15. PEN International, PEN America (23 March 2023). "Chinese Authorities Should Immediately Release Blogger Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison" (Press release). New York City / London. Archived from the original on 25 March 2023. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
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