As the Chinese government cracked down on online free expression over the last decade, blocking access to information, filtering content, surveilling users for social control, and unleashing malware disproportionately against its own people, there was one steady, anonymous voice on the internet speaking out against government censorship, calling for protests, and teaching netizens and activists how to protect themselves online.
It was a blog called Program Think, and its author’s identity was not known to the public. But their words touched many for their insightful political commentary, technical how-tos, frank discussion of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, and advocacy for free expression in China. As we mark the 34th anniversary of the protests this month, we are calling attention to Program Think, which for 12 years beginning in 2009 was the rare pro-democracy forum operating from within China, garnering tens of thousands of subscribers, all the while evading the internet police and keeping its author’s name secret—no easy feat. Even his wife didn’t know.
Today Ruan Xiaohuan, the blogger and cybersecurity expert behind Program Think, is in prison after being sentenced in February to seven years for alleged incitement to subvert the government. His situation was revealed in March by his wife Bei, who attended his sentencing hearing. She had not seen or heard from him since ten Chinese officers showed up at their home in Shanghai and took him in May 2021. He was tried in secret, his wife and family told little about his whereabouts or the charges against him. His name is banned on
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