The most important thing isn’t whether or not you resist. These political conditions are growing out of poor soil. Before you can grow crops, first you have to plant grass to nourish the soil. As the soil’s fertility improves, you can cultivate better things. This is what Ruan Xiaohuan was doing. [Chinese]
In a seven-minute session on Friday, Shanghai’s High Court confirmed the seven-year prison sentence for inciting subversion passed in February 2023 against blogger Ruan Xiaohuan, or "program-think" (Biānchéng suíxiǎng, 编程随想). CDT Chinese editors highlighted the occasion with the above quote from Ruan’s wife, Bei Zhenying, taken from an interview by the WOMEN Chinese-language Substack newsletter earlier this year.
Ruan posted for 12 years until his sudden disappearance in May 2021. He built a large and devoted following through his posts on technology, politics, and especially their intersection with guides to circumventing the Great Firewall. He had hidden his identity as program-think even from his wife, who has become a vocal advocate for her husband and subsequently come under official pressure herself. On X, Bei described Friday’s verdict as "a deep stain on Shanghai’s judicial system," but added that her husband had appeared in good spirits, and that "no matter what age we are living in, no matter what our circumstances, we cannot allow ourselves to lose hope!"
In November, Ruan was nominated for Reporters Without Borders’ Courage prize, which ultimately went to Waël al-Dahdouh, head of Al Jazeera’s Gaza desk. In 2021, CDT Chinese editors chose program-think as their Person of the Year. CDT translated some selected excerpts from Ruan’s work soon after his detention, including a piece on the “Princeling Network Map” he published on Github; an essay on the origins of the meme “Zhao family member,” used to describe CCP cadres and those embedded in the power structure; and an account of how Ruan managed to elude the authorities and maintain his anonymity for over a decade.
