Fang Binxing

Fang Binxing is a former Principal of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. He is also known for his substantial contribution to China's Internet censorship infrastructure, and has been dubbed "Father of China's Great Fire Wall".

In this Chinese name, the family name is Fang (方).

Fang Binxing
方滨兴
Born (1960-07-17) 17 July 1960
Harbin, Heilongjiang
NationalityChinese
OccupationComputer scientist from China
Academicians of Chinese Academy of Engineering
Political partyCommunist Party of China
Fang Binxing
Simplified Chinese方滨兴
Traditional Chinese方濱興

Biography

Fang was born on 17 July 1960 in Harbin, Heilongjiang province. Fang went to university at Harbin Institute of Technology, where he earned a PhD in computer science and became a lecturer. He began working at the National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team / Coordination Center of China in 1999 as deputy chief engineer; from 2000 he was chief engineer and director. It was in this position that he oversaw the development of the filtering and blocking technology that has become known as the Great Firewall,[1] and thus, he has been dubbed "Father of China's Great Fire Wall".[2]

Fang has defended the Great Firewall in the media, stating that it is a "natural reaction to something newborn and unknown" and that web censoring is a "common phenomenon around the world".[1] Appearing on China Central Television in March 2010, Fang accused Google of conducting censorship such as Chilling Effects.[3]

Fang has helped create a major electronic surveillance operation in Chongqing for party secretary Bo Xilai. The system involved wiretaps, eavesdropping, and monitoring of internet communications.[4]

Incidents

2011 shoe throwing incident

On 19 May 2011, Fang was hit on the chest by a shoe thrown at him by a Huazhong University of Science and Technology student who calls himself "Hanjunyi" (Chinese: 寒君依 /小湖北) while Fang was giving a lecture at Wuhan University. According to RFI, the student discussed the planned shoe attack on Twitter, and with the help of other bloggers, was able to locate the exact whereabouts and the time of Fang's lecture. After the shoe throwing incident, "Hanjunyi" was able to walk out while other students were trying to obstruct school teachers who were going to detain him. "Hanjunyi" had since become an instant internet hero of the Chinese blogosphere, with bloggers offering him a large number of presents, such as cash, airline tickets, buffet dinners at Hong Kong five-star hotels, tours of various sex parlors, sight-seeing tours, a virtual private network, iPad2, admission ticket to Hong Kong Disneyland, escorted tour of Singapore, free hotel rooms, free sex with admiring female bloggers, free shoes and designer clothes. An anonymous blogger even promised him a position in his company if ever "Hanjunyi" is in trouble with the authorities.[5][6][7][8][9]

During an interview with CNN, "Hanjunyi" said: "I'm not happy about what he (Fang) does. His work made me spend unnecessary money to get access to the website that is supposed to be free... He makes my online surfing very inconvenient."[10]

2016 VPN incident

In April 2016, reports of a botched presentation by Fang went viral. Fang was speaking at his alma mater, the Harbin Institute of Technology, and reportedly planned to display some South Korean web sites as part of the presentation. After his initial attempts were blocked by the Great Firewall, Fang publicly attempted, with mixed success, to bypass the firewall with a VPN. The question-and-answer session following the presentation was cancelled. According to Ming Pao, Fang was later resoundingly mocked online.[11][12][13]

References
  1. "Great Firewall father speaks out - China News - SINA English". Sina English. 18 February 2011. Archived from the original on 25 February 2011. Retrieved 18 February 2011.
  2. Chao, Loretta (20 December 2010). "'Father' of China's Great Firewall Shouted Off Own Microblog". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 25 December 2010.
  3. CCTV Video Archived 10 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine 别了，麻烦谷歌（23 March 2010）
  4. Ansfield, Jonathan; Johnson, Ian (25 April 2012). "Bo Xilai Said to Have Spied on Top China Officials". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  5. "China's Great Firewall designer 'hit by shoe". BBC. 19 May 2011. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  6. GFW之父武汉大学演讲遭遇学生扔鞋抗议 (in Chinese). RTI. 19 May 2011. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  7. Olesen, Alexa (19 May 2011). "Designer of Chinese web controls hit by shoe". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 24 May 2011. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  8. Jacobs, Andrew (19 May 2011). "Chinese Student Takes Aim, Literally, at Internet Regulator". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  9. 微博热点：方滨兴武汉大学遇"扔鞋"抗议？. Yunnan Information Times (in Chinese). 19 May 2011. Archived from the original on 23 May 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
  10. Hong, Helena; FlorCruz, Jamie (20 May 2011). "Chinese student says he hurled shoe at Web regulator, sparks Web buzz". CNN. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  11. Ramzy, Austin (6 April 2016). "Architect of China's 'Great Firewall' Bumps into It". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  12. "Father of the Great Firewall of China blocked by his own creation". The Guardian. 6 April 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  13. McCarthy, Kieren (2016). "China's Great Firewall inventor forced to use VPN live on stage to dodge his own creation". The Register. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
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