Fang Bin
WHILE THE CHINESE Communist Party downplayed the pandemic inside Wuhan in early 2020, Fang Bin exposed the reality of the situation on the ground through videos he uploaded to YouTube, a blocked platform in China. His videos showed overcrowded hospitals in Wuhan with body bags outside as early as January 25, 2020.
Case Summary
Fang Bin / 方斌 – Gender: Male, Born: Unknown
Current status: Released from 3 year sentence on April 30, 2023
Reason for Detention: Uploaded videos of Wuhan’s pandemic situation to YouTube as early as January 25, 2020. Fang Bin’s videos are archived and transcribed in English on China Change here.
Current location: Wuhan
Past Detentions: Fang Bin has been detained several times for his belief in Falun Gong, including in December 2000, May 2004, June 2010, and May 2013, serving several labor camp terms. He was reportedly tortured every time he was detained. Fang Bin was most recently detained in February 2020 for publishing videos of Wuhan at the beginning of the pandemic.
Family: His wife, Mrs. Feng Yunqing, is currently imprisoned on charges related to her faith. Fang Bin’s son and other family members are under pressure from authorities not to help Fang Bin after his release.
Category: Citizen Journalist
Personal Background
Mr. Fang Bin was an entrepreneur in Wuhan, who sold traditional clothing and tried his hand at a variety of different businesses. He became a citizen journalist out of necessity during the pandemic.
“The harm of the virus goes hand-in-hand with tyranny, and the root of the virus is tyranny,” Fang Bin’s voice spread throughout China through social media three years ago, and even jumped out of the Great Wall of the Internet to spread all over the world. ”No matter how raging the virus is, the evil poison of tyranny, the viciousness of tyranny, the cruelty of tyranny is far greater than the cruelty of the virus.”
