Fleshing Out The Truth: Chinese netizens unite to deliver their own form of justice
“Yesterday after work I went online and took part in renrou sousuo. The girl’s boyfriend cheated on her while she was away on vacation in Hong Kong, so she posted all of his personal information on her blog. He deserves to be punished!”
I don’t think I have ever been more confused than the time when my friend Wang Yang tried to describe what renrou sousuo means. Renrou = ”human flesh” and Sousuo = “search”
What exactly does “human flesh search†entail?
In short, human flesh search describes the phenomenon in which a group of Chinese netizens, strangers to one another, organize online to discover an individual’s personal information and track down his or her whereabouts. Quite often the first part of the search is easy, because the person who initiates the search posts the “culprit’s” private information online on their personal blog or on a public BBS forum. Once the target is identified, the online search can transition into the physical world. Enraged netizens will call and harass the culprit along with their family. There are even a series of documented cases in which the culprit, overwhelmed by the pressure and humiliation of the human flesh search, commits suicide.
Human flesh search: drivers and enablers
Human flesh search is a web-enabled mob, and like any other mob, the mob mentality primarily drives participating netizens’ behavior. Key enablers are the various technologies that netizens leverage to communicate and execute the search (see yesterday’s post). While individual participants in the search may be driven by irrational motives, the constant communication offered by the enabling technology makes the group as a whole act in a surprisingly efficient and intelligent manner.
Case Study #1: When human flesh search gets ugly
One of the most well known cases of human flesh search in China occurred earlier this year when a man’s wife jumped 24 floors to her death. Before she committed suicide she wrote multiple blog entries describing the details of her husband’s affair. Chinese netizens, eager to see justice served, tracked down and publicized her husband’s photos and personal contact information. Her husband, Wang Fei, an advertising agency executive; completely lost his privacy and had no choice but to quit his job because of netizens’ harassment. He subsequently sued the websites that helped the search take place for damages.
Case Study #2: The friendly side of human flesh search
Ren-Rou.cn is a Chinese website whose sole purpose is to document and promote human flesh search. One of the key features is a human flesh search engine, where users post who they want to track down. To my surprise, not all of the posts were netizens looking for revenge. Many of the posts were by netizens interested in locating former boyfriends and girlfriends or old friends whom they fell out of touch with. Ren-Rou.cn shows that there is a friendlier side to human flesh search and not all of it is malicious.
The Observer’s Thoughts
After only a few years of development renrou sousuo is already widespread in the Chinese online space. What bothers me about this form of online vigilantism is the fact that typically the evidence provided is only one sided. While many of the targets of the human flesh search may be justifiably in the wrong, netizens are too quick to side with the initiator of the search. The renrou sousuo phenomenon shows us that complete privacy may no longer exist. Regardless of whether you live in China or anywhere else in the world strangers have the tools at their disposal to check up on you and your doings.
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Comments
the example of that girl from Duke University who tried to mediate between the Chinese and Tibet protesters was also a really sad case of the ren-rou sou suo. They hassled her parents in Shandong and even dumped feces outside of their door for bring up a girl who is a “traitor”. It is scary..
Thanks for the great article and analysis.. first time i have seen this all summarized so nicely. Thanks.
[...] Human flesh search engines later found this girl who wrote this apology. I may post about it later but not now. [...]
Human flesh search is a production of new culture and new age.This phenomenon doesn’t happen by accident. It is a new way for the common people to uphold justice, it is also a threat to the privace,to the law. What we can make sure is that it is full of controversies.I really hope that one day we can have a regulation or law to regulate the words and deeds on the Internet.
Human flesh search is a production of new culture and new age.This phenomenon doesn’t happen by accident.
It is a new way for the common people to uphold justice, it is also a threat to the privace,to the law.
What we can make sure is that it is full of controversies.
I really hope that one day we can have a regulation or law to regulate the words and deeds on the Internet.
If you love someone, send him to human flesh search engine; if you hate someone, send him to human flesh search engine, too.
The human flesh search really is an interesting phenomenon.
I don’t know if you read this, but the flesh search came in handy last month when a government official attempted to abuse a young girl and the ensuing fight with the parents was caught on security video and seen by hundreds of thousands of Chinese netizens. They declared a human flesh search to find which part of the government he worked for and who he was. It wasn’t until he was discovered that he was suspended and I think eventually relieved of his position.
Even though it seems that justice in that case was served, I agree with you that this tool can be a scary monster.