Buzz
Even with China's government's intense efforts to silence and regulate dissent, the Internet has become a space where countless individuals have managed to organize online mobs, targeting corrupt officials, societal misfits, or even innocent people. These networks are known as renrou sousuo, or human flesh search engines. Here are 10 stories showing the impact, for better or worse.
10. The Kitten Killers
Warning: The images linked in the sources are graphic and may be disturbing.
In 2006, a video surfaced showing a well-dressed woman crushing kittens with her stiletto heels, sparking widespread outrage and an online effort to identify the woman responsible. The footage was traced to a video posted by a user named 'Gainmas' on a website called Crushworld, a fetish site dedicated to videos of women crushing small animals to death. These videos were sold for 15 yuan each (roughly $2 US at the time). The woman's QQ account was found, and her profile featured the disturbing statement 'I crush everything between you and me.'
Within six days, the woman was identified as a 38-year-old nurse from Hubei province. She claimed that depression and the aftermath of a failed marriage led her to be manipulated into participating in animal cruelty on film. The website was taken down after a massive denial-of-service attack, and both the woman and the cameraman, who worked for a local TV station, publicly apologized and lost their jobs due to the backlash.
Another brutal attack on a cat in 2009 sparked online outrage. A student from Hebei University was accused in a Mop BBS post titled 'Deviant Boy Brutally Kills Garfield' of using an explosive device to kill a beloved campus stray. Internet detectives quickly identified a suspect through online investigation and campus posters.
9. The Flashy Spenders
The growing wealth gap in China has led some individuals to flaunt their affluence online, triggering a backlash from the less fortunate who are eager to punish such displays of vanity. In 2011, a forum user known as 'Jackie_Zheng Wen' posted pictures of a lavish meal worth 83,000 yuan ($13,172 US). The extravagant 30-course meal included six endangered giant salamanders, mooncakes filled with shark’s fin and spirulina algae, 15-year-old premier Moutai liquor, and luxury cigarettes. An online human flesh search quickly identified a person with the same name as a 1982 graduate of the Beijing-based Chinese Communist Party school for young leaders, prompting comments like, 'Since you’re so rich, why don’t you donate to poor kids in remote villages?' and 'Does this have anything to do with the Party school, young comrade?' In response, the user denied attending the school and swiftly deleted the post.
Another person who paid the price for her arrogance was Guo Meimei, a woman in her twenties who posted images of her extravagant lifestyle — villas, luxury cars, and designer handbags — on Sina Weibo, all while falsely claiming to be the general manager of the Red Cross Society. After a public outcry, both Guo and the Red Cross Society denied any association, but the charity's reputation was severely tarnished. In 2014, Guo was arrested on charges of gambling and prostitution, later appearing on state television in orange prison clothes, tearfully apologizing for damaging the charity's image. Online commentators speculated that the sudden state media exposure of the Red Cross scandal was a calculated effort to divert public attention from government corruption, poor disaster relief, and ethnic tensions in Xinjiang.
8. The Regimental Commander’s Wife at the Mogao Caves
When a young attendant at the renowned Mogao Caves in Gansu province asked a middle-aged woman to stop touching an ancient Western Xia Dynasty cave painting, the woman’s two enormous bodyguards retaliated by slapping the attendant. Security intervened, stopping the woman and her guards, who then accused the 19-year-old of assaulting them. It was later revealed that the woman was the wife of a military regimental commander, who told the guards, 'Don’t waste police time, isn’t this just a tourist spot? Isn’t she just a little attendant? We are people of status. A small matter takes just a couple of minutes, don’t make it a big deal.'
The woman remained haughty and dismissive even when the police arrived. Eventually, she gave a perfunctory apology to the attendant before leaving with a smug smile. The license plates of the two luxury cars in her convoy were photographed outside the Dunhuang Hotel and posted online for the eager human flesh search engine. The backlash was swift, as public outrage over the assault and the misuse of government vehicles for personal leisure reached military corps leadership. Within days, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps announced that both the commander and his wife had been relieved of their positions due to their misconduct and improper use of official vehicles. So much for their supposed status.
7. The Framing of Uncle Ou
Ou Shaokun, an activist and muckraker based in Guangzhou, is well-known for posting photos of license plates on social media to expose corrupt officials who use government vehicles for personal purposes. He often waits outside entertainment districts, high-end restaurants, and hotels, searching for government cars. After uploading images of Guangzhou government cars being driven in Hunan province, Ou was invited to dinner and karaoke by a supporter, along with a man named Chen Jialuo. Later that evening, a woman from the karaoke parlor entered Ou’s hotel room, undressed, and began to kiss him, at which point police raided the room and arrested Ou for soliciting a prostitute. Ou was later forced to make a televised confession.
Ou’s supporters quickly caught on and fired up the search engine, uncovering evidence that the man, Chen Jialuo, was actually Captain Chen Jianluo from the Changsha Domestic Security Department. Government censors swiftly intervened, blocking searches for Chen Jianluo and allegedly issued the following directives: “All websites must cool down the focus on ‘Uncle’ Ou Shaokun’s encounter with a prostitute. Don’t make it a top story. Control the narrative, and block related searches.” Despite their efforts, the story got out, and Ou soon claimed his confession had been taken out of context, stating he would sue the police for wrongful arrest.
6. A Government Official Assaults an 11-Year-Old Girl
In 2008, at the Plum Garden Seafood Restaurant in Shenzhen, an older, large man approached an 11-year-old girl, asking for directions to the restroom. He insisted she show him the way, then grabbed her by the neck and attempted to force her into the men's bathroom. The girl managed to break free and return to her family, but when her enraged father confronted the man, he responded with, “I did it, so what? How much do you want? Name your price, I’ll pay it! Do you even know who I am? I was sent here by the Beijing Ministry of Transportation, my rank equals that of your mayor. So what if I grabbed a child’s neck? Who are you to me?”
When the police arrived, they dismissed the incident, claiming the man was simply drunk and that there was no evidence of sexual assault. However, once a video of the event went viral, netizens quickly identified the inebriated offender as Lin Jiaxiang, a party secretary from the Shenzhen Maritime Administration. The online uproar led to Lin’s dismissal, with the official reason being his “reckless behavior and words causing severe damage to society.” Despite the public outrage, he was cleared of child molestation charges, with authorities labeling the incident as ‘drunken misbehavior’. A commenter on Netease summed up the anger best: 'You use public funds to indulge yourselves, we endure it; you flaunt your official cars, we endure it; you have multiple wives, we endure it; you own numerous villas and houses, we endure it. But now, you won’t even leave our children alone.'
5. Yang Dacai’s Infamous Smile
In 2012, photos of Yang Dacai, the head of the Shaanxi Administration of Work Safety, smiling at the site of a horrific traffic crash sparked outrage online. The accident, in which a bus collided with a methanol tanker truck, resulted in 36 deaths. The images showing Yang, smiling and standing plump in front of the charred remains of the truck, were shared by the user 'author god bless' on Weibo, leading netizens to turn against the beleaguered official.
The human flesh search engine soon uncovered images of Yang sporting pricey watches, which appeared far too lavish for a typical government official, implying potential bribery. This triggered a wave of mocking memes, and he earned the nickname 'Brother Wristwatch.' The phrase 'rendadaibio,' a clever play on words, initially resembles the title of a People's Congress representative but humorously means 'Big Men Wear Watches.' Despite Yang's defense that he was merely trying to uplift the spirits of the rescue workers, the online backlash culminated in a corruption investigation, resulting in a 14-year prison sentence for bribery. Strangely, or perhaps fittingly, he smiled as his sentence was being read.
4. Brother Sharp
A homeless man living in Ningbo became an unexpected subject of a positive human flesh search when netizens began to admire his striking appearance and unique fashion sense. 'Those sorrowful eyes, that melancholic expression, the tragic mustache, the miraculous hair, and that untamed mess—all of it captivated me deeply.' He quickly became known as Brother Sharp, Beggar Prince, or Handsome Vagabond, sparking an online sensation. Thousands of comments praised his looks, memes featuring him surfaced, and a 'homeless chic' style trend emerged.
As more details emerged, it was revealed that Brother Sharp enjoyed wearing women’s clothing, which may have contributed to his charm. However, it was also discovered that he possibly had psychological issues, with one blogger describing him as having 'great fog sickness.' Reports surfaced that he would eat food off the ground, talk to himself, and cry when approached by online fans trying to offer assistance. Due to the explosion of his newfound fame, he was eventually reunited with his family. The role of the human flesh search engines led one local social worker to comment, 'Homeless people are vulnerable. It is wrong to use them for entertainment purposes.'
3. Poisoning of Zhu Ling
In 1996, Zhu Ling, a second-year student at Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University, was poisoned, suffering from stomach pain, hair loss, and eventual paralysis. A friend at Peking University, one of the few places in China with online access at the time, posted an 'SOS' message on Usenet to diagnose her symptoms. Around 1,500 doctors from across the world contributed their thoughts, and the consensus was that she was suffering from thallotoxicosis, caused by exposure to thallium. She was saved with an antidote, Prussian Blue dye, but was left permanently disabled, partially blind, and with the mental capacity of a six-year-old. Despite suspicions about her roommate, Sun Wei, no police investigation into the poisoning was initiated.
A decade after the incident, a user named 'skyoneline' raised doubts about Sun Wei’s innocence on the Tianya message board, accusing her of leveraging her family connections to conceal the crime. Sun Wei responded, defending herself, but oddly criticized the university's security measures, stating that her brother had managed to infiltrate the area where the thallium was stored. By then, she had moved to the United States and changed her name to Jasmine Sun. Ultimately, the controversy faded back into obscurity.
In 2013, the Zhu Ling case resurfaced after the poisoning death of Huang Yang, a student at Fudan University, allegedly at the hands of his roommate, coinciding with the Boston Bombing in the United States. The American media’s transparent handling of student deaths and injuries struck a chord with Chinese netizens, who were accustomed to government censorship. This sparked a renewed call to revisit the Zhu Ling case. The grassroots campaign, demanding the case be reopened and for Sun to return to China, faced immediate suppression, with the government deleting related content.
The human flesh search engine then targeted the Obama administration's We the People online petition system, with thousands of Chinese citizens petitioning for the deportation of Jasmine Sun. This, however, amounted to nothing. Eventually, Chinese state media addressed the case, though only to quell rumors of a conspiracy. The right-wing newspaper Global Times dismissed the rumors in an editorial, saying, 'Sun’s family background was not distinguished enough to prevent security organs from investigating the situation at a top university in China.' The truth may never fully emerge, but a user claiming to be Sun Wei responded to the controversy with two lines: 'For all these years, I have been waiting for truth to emerge like many others. It’s up to other people to laugh at or attack me.'
2. Sichuan Earthquake Reaction and Counterreaction
In the wake of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, a 21-year-old woman named Gao Qianhui expressed her frustration over the three-day suspension of online games in a furious online rant: 'I turn on the TV and what do I see? Dead bodies, injured people, corpses, rotten bodies, all the crazy acts you guys are putting up. It’s not that I want to watch these things. I have no choice. […] Sigh... all you guys... if you’re hit by the rubble just go suffer by yourself quietly […] Come on, how many of you guys are dead? Just a few, is it not? We’ve got so many people in China anyway.' Her rant provoked a swift and furious backlash from online activists, with thousands of negative comments. The outrage escalated to the point that Gao was arrested.
A more disturbing case emerged on the popular cultural website Douban, where a user named 'Diebao' claimed that the government was using the earthquake to stir nationalist emotions. Pro-government netizens took offense and combed through her past posts, discovering a remark she made shortly after the quake, possibly in a state of shock: 'I felt really excited when the earthquake hit. I know this experience might happen once in a lifetime. When I watched the news at my aunt’s place, I found out that it caused five people to die. I feel so good, but that’s not enough. I think more people should die.' Her words were quickly reposted with the title 'She Said the Quake Was Not Strong Enough,' and it triggered a massive online backlash, including aggressive messages directed at her school. As a result, she was expelled from her university 'for her own protection.'
1. The Li Gang Incident
In 2010, two female university students at Hebei University were struck by a speeding Volkswagen while inline skating, resulting in one sustaining a broken leg and the other being killed. The driver was Li Qiming, the son of Li Gang, the deputy police chief at the time, who was driving his girlfriend to school. Li Qiming fled the scene, but when stopped by students and campus security, he defiantly shouted, 'Go ahead, sue me if you dare, my father is Li Gang!' As news of the incident spread online, the human flesh search engine immediately went into action, uncovering Li’s personal and family details, inundating his social media accounts with hostile comments, and turning the phrase 'My dad is Li Gang' into a viral meme. This meme was blended with classical poetry and proverbs, symbolizing invincibility and a refusal to take responsibility for one’s actions:
'The luminous moonshine before my bed, Is thought to be the frost fallen on the ground. I lift my head to yell at the security guard, My father is Li Gang.'
Despite government efforts to suppress information about the incident, the online campaign gained momentum, forcing Li Qiming and his father to publicly apologize. Eventually, the police charged Li Qiming with manslaughter. Even though his father held a powerful position, Li Qiming was sentenced to six years in prison and required to pay compensation to both the surviving victim and the family of the deceased victim.
