Fang Binxing
Encyclopedia
Fang Binxing is the capital and largest city of Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China, lying on the southern bank of the Songhua River...
, China) is Principal of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications
Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications
The Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications was founded as The Beijing Institute of Posts and Telecommunications in 1955. It was created under the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and the Communications Department of the General Staff Department of the People's Liberation Army...
. 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".
Fang went to university at Harbin Institute of Technology
Harbin Institute of Technology
The Harbin Institute of Technology , or HIT, is colloquially known as Hagongda . It is a research university in the city of Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China....
, 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 served as 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, officially known as the 'Golden Shield'.
Fang has defended the Great Firewall in the media, stating that it is a "natural reaction to something newborn and unknown" and that such web censoring is a "common phenomenon around the world". Appearing on China Central Television
China Central Television
China Central Television or Chinese Central Television, commonly abbreviated as CCTV, is the major state television broadcaster in mainland China. CCTV has a network of 19 channels broadcasting different programmes and is accessible to more than one billion viewers...
in March 2010, Fang accused Google of conducting censorship such as Chilling Effects.
Shoeing 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 "hanunyi" (Chinese:寒君依, or 小湖北) while Fang was giving a lecture at Wuhan UniversityWuhan University
Wuhan University is a university located in Wuchang, Hubei, China. It is directly under the administration of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. It is regarded as one of the top ten universities in China, and its history dates back to 1893, making it one of China's...
. According to RFI
RFI
RFI can mean:* Rowing Federation of India* Radio Frequency Interference* Radio France Internationale* Remote File Inclusion* Request for information, a business process* Rete Ferroviaria Italiana...
, 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 shoeing
Shoeing
Shoeing, throwing shoes, showing the sole of one's shoe or using shoes to insult are forms of protest in many parts of the world.Incidents where shoes were thrown at political figures have taken place in Australia, India, Ireland, Israel, Hong Kong, Pakistan, the United Kingdom and most notably,...
, "Hanunyi" was able to walk out while other students were trying to obstruct school teachers who were going to detain him. "Hanunyi" 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 "Hanunyi" is in trouble with the authorities.
During an interview with CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, "hanunyi" 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."