Fang Binxing

Who is Fang Binxing?

Fang Binxing was the Principal of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. He is a Chinese Communist Party Member. 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, 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 was 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 in March 2010, Fang accused Google of conducting censorship such as Chilling Effects.