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For 12 years, Program Think, an anonymous Chinese blogger, mounted an open challenge to China’s tightening authoritarian grip and expanding surveillance state.
The freewheeling blog offered a mixture of technical cybersecurity advice and scathing political commentary – including tips on how to safely circumvent China’s Great Firewall of internet censorship, develop critical thinking and resist the increasingly totalitarian rule of the Chinese Communist Party.
The blogger took pride in their ability to cover their digital tracks and avoid getting caught – even as a growing number of government critics were ensnared in Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s strident crackdown on dissent.
Then, in May 2021, Program Think suddenly went silent.
The blog stopped updating and its Twitter and GitHub accounts turned dormant. Its author had promised followers to never stay inactive for more than 14 days. Many feared the blogger had been struck by an accident or illness, or tracked down and detained by authorities.
Speculation abounded, yet no one was able to offer concrete evidence.
Program Think had so closely guarded their identity that no supporters knew who the blogger was – except that they had been a programmer inside mainland China with a decade-long career in information security.
Now, almost two years later, the wife of a blogger recently sentenced to seven years in a Chinese prison for “inciting subversion of state power” believes she has the answer to the question: What happened to Program Think?
‘How is it possible?’
The woman, surnamed Bei, is the wife of Ruan Xiaohuan, a 45-year-old man who was taken away by police from his Shanghai home on May 10, 2021 – one day after Program Think’s final blog post.
Ruan’s detention caught Bei completely dumbfounded. And she would be even more shocked to learn her husband was blogging about politically sensitive subjects.
“The police told me his case was very serious, and I thought, how is it possible?” Bei told CNN.
“He’s a tech nerd and he loved delving into technology. How could he have so much energy to write articles on current political affairs?”
Throughout the investigation and court procedures, Bei was unable to learn much detail about her husband’s case as authorities told her it involved “state secrets.” Ruan was tried in secret, and Bei only saw him again at his sentencing at the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate Court on February 10 this year, she said.
“He was abnormally thin, and his hair has turned almost all white,” Bei said. Ruan didn’t say a word and half of his face was covered by a Covid face mask.
“After the sentencing, he turned around to look at me as if expressing dissent and seeking help. I could tell the sentence was much heavier than he had expected,” she said. “I told him: ‘Appeal.’”
According to a copy of the verdict seen by CNN, the court ruled that Ruan had “long harbored dissatisfaction” with China’s political system and social governance.
“Since June 2009, (Ruan) has used his computer to write more than a hundred seditious articles that spread rumors and slander, attack and smear the country’s current political system, incite subversion of state power, and intent to overthrow the socialist system,” the court verdict said.
It added that the articles, published on overseas platforms, attracted “a large number of internet users to read, comment and share, causing pernicious consequences.”
But the court documents did not mention the name of Ruan’s blog, or provide details on the content it deemed subversive. After the sentencing, the judge asked Bei to sign an agreement not to publicize the verdict, which she refused, Bei told CNN.
Determined to find out what authorities had withheld from her, Bei learned how to use a VPN, or virtual private network, to bypass China’s strict internet restrictions.
She searched for media reports about Chinese bloggers who went missing, until she came across a blog with a picture of Rodin’s sculpture “The Thinker” as its avatar.
Its name: Program Think.
‘It can’t just be a coincidence’
It was, by Bei’s own admission, a light bulb moment.
All the information about the blog matched up with that of her husband.
The blog started in 2009 and its last post, a long list of book recommendations, was published on May 9 – a day before Ruan was taken away and had his laptop confiscated. There was also a four-month period, Bei remembered, when Ruan was sick and bedridden that coincided with a lull in publishing.
The author’s writing style and aspirations seemed all too familiar, so did his bluntness and confidence that sometimes bordered on arrogance, Bei said.
She learned during police investigations that her husband had posted more than 700 articles on an overseas platform – just as Program Think did.
“It can’t be just a coincidence,” Bei said.
She burst into tears at an internet cafe the moment she drew what she believes to be the connection between her husband and the influential blogger, she recalled.
“I came to realize how much pressure he had been under for such a long time.
