A young man who helped around 5 million Chinese people bypass China’s Great Firewall is wanted by the Chinese regime and has applied for political asylum in the Netherlands.
Gan Wenwei, 31, from Wuhan City, was arrested in August last year by Chinese police for selling virtual private network (VPN) software to those seeking to bypass China’s Great Firewall internet controls.
As an internet-addicted youth, Gan worked at an internet cafe after dropping out of primary school so that he could surf the web for free.
“I personally always had the need to access Google, Twitter, and even some overseas websites and media,” he told NTD, the sister media of The Epoch Times, in an interview conducted in Chinese on March 4.
“Then I realized that there were others like me who needed to access foreign media, including overseas websites like YouTube, etc. They didn’t have a way to do it, and they didn’t understand the technology. So, I ended up entering this industry on my own,” Gan said.
China’s Great Firewall was set up in 1998 and managed by the communist regime’s Ministry of Public Security to censor what can and cannot be seen in the country. The firewall bans major websites and social media platforms including Google, Facebook, YouTube, and Yahoo.
The act of bypassing internet censorship with VPN software is commonly referred to as “bypassing the wall.”
According to an estimate in 2019 by Li Zhi’an, a professor and an expert in Chinese internet law from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, there were 20 to 30 million internet users in China using VPNs.
In the early stages of his career, Gan joined a Telegram group that included around 100 people who helped each other navigate the Great Firewall and any technical challenges that arose.
“Over the past 10 years, there have been intermittent periods of losing contact and even disappearing, including some people withdrawing. But overall, we’ve maintained stable communication with about 30 people,” he said. “These 30 people form a kind of mutual support group, almost like an industry association. Whenever there are technical challenges, we solve them together, and if there are procurement issues, we also tackle them as a team.”
Gan estimated that the team had received nearly 5 million orders in China for VPN software packages in the past year.
“For security reasons, I basically delete my data once a month, and I only keep about a month’s worth of data, [which is] around 400,000 orders,” he said.
Gan specifically pointed out that due to the Chinese regime’s firewall, most mainstream international VPN providers are essentially unusable in China. The circle of Chinese VPN software providers have their own set of proxy tools and methods. However, these methods are subject to crackdowns, and authorities frequently update their blocking techniques.
Arrested and Extorted by Police
The self-employed business owner was arrested by Shenzhen police on Aug. 15, 2024, at his home in Wuhan.“At the time of my arrest, there was no evidence at all,” Gan said. “They tricked me into opening my front door, and then suddenly five or six people controlled me, handcuffed me, and searched my house, turning everything upside down. They didn’t show any identification, nor did they present any so-called arrest documents.”
When the police interrogated Gan on Aug. 15, they told him that he could pay some money first to make up for his mistakes.
“I said at the time that I could borrow some money from my friends. The next day, I told my friend that I urgently needed money and that I needed 1.5 million yuan ($206,865) in cash. My friend then brought the cash to my house,” he recalled.
After being detained for 28 days, Gan was released on bail by the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau and returned to Wuhan.
He didn’t expect that a month later, the police in Xiajin, a poor county in the eastern Shandong Province, would arrest him again.
“At the Shenzhen Nanshan District case handling center, they [Xiajin police] clashed with the Shenzhen police, trying to take all of us to Shandong,” Gan said. “They repeatedly hinted that if we paid a fine of around 1 million yuan ($137,910), they would help us avoid charges.”
“They said, ‘This matter could either be big or small. You need to think it through carefully.’”
Promising that he was willing to confess and try his best to raise the funds when he got back, Gan was bailed and allowed to return to Wuhan. More than 30 people were involved in this case in total, with four being arrested.
Lin stated that authorities in Xiajin County arrest individuals working in the VPN industry across the country to supplement its finances.
“They take this as a way to generate revenue, solving local financial issues, while individuals can also use this project to amass personal wealth,” he told The Epoch Times on March 5.
Ju Kaifei, the deputy head of the Cybersecurity Unit who appeared on the List of Villains, was also highly praised in an article on the Xiajin Public Security’s WeChat account.
“Since the Ministry of Public Security launched the ‘Firewall Bypass and Network Disruption’ operation, Ju Kaifei has led the investigation and handling of a series of cases, including the ‘11.20 Providing Tools for Intrusion and Illegal Control of Computer Information Systems’ case,” reads the WeChat article in a screenshot supplied by Lin.
“These efforts successfully shut down several illegal websites operating for more than three years, involving over 500,000 nationwide recharge users and seizing more than 40 million yuan ($5516404.00) in illicit funds,” the article states.
“As a cybersecurity officer, Ju has always adhered to the principle of Party control over internet security and has been dedicated to working on the front lines of combating illegal activities and crimes.”
Road to Escape
On Dec. 13, 2024, Gan received a summons requiring him to go to the Xiajin Public Security Bureau on Dec. 16 for questioning.Knowing that the police were ready to tighten the net, and that if he failed to come up with the money, he might be sentenced to prison, Gan decided to escape.
“Since I was released on bail, I was restricted from leaving the country. Fortunately, my passport wasn’t confiscated!” reads a post on his website.
“I chartered a car from Wuhan to Guangxi (I didn’t get off the car anywhere within China to avoid surveillance) and then to a Southeast Asian country. With the help of internal customs staff, I forged entry and exit records and successfully activated my passport!
“Next, I had my wife and child go abroad, flying to Singapore where we met, and then we traveled to Serbia. From there, we took a freight truck to the European Union and eventually to the Netherlands.”
Bypassing Firewall Is ‘Mental Drug’
Asked about the 5 million orders per year and why Chinese people’s demand for VPNs is so high, Gan said bypassing the Great Firewall is like a mental drug of freedom.“Once people’s horizons are broadened, they can’t stop, no matter what they’re doing, whether it’s watching YouTube, engaging in academic research, or for work-related needs,” he said. “Once a person tastes freedom, they won’t go back to watching the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s toxic media, like CCTV (China Central Television) news.”
He recalled how he watched a customer change after using their product to break through the internet firewall.
The customer, who initially commented that he didn’t understand why so many channels on YouTube constantly criticized the Chinese regime, started using the VPN around seven years ago.
In the past two years, the customer occasionally commented that his perspective was gradually opening up, that he understood some of the brainwashing policies in China and how the regime controls people’s thoughts.
“Previously, this customer was a ‘little pink’ [pro-CCP], but later he realized and had a significant change in attitude,” said Gan. “That is to say, if a person has an environment with freedom of speech, it greatly enhances their personal growth, including the progress of their thoughts.”
For this reason, Gan believes that the business will continue to grow.
“Using a VPN is like a mental drug. Once you start, you can’t quit; and once you can’t quit, you’ll continue to purchase and use various ways to bypass the firewall,” he said.
Cherishing Freedom to Bypass Firewall
Gan’s business in China has been suspended after his arrest and escape from the country. Currently, in the Netherlands, Gan needs to be granted refugee status before he can establish a company to resume his VPN business.“I would like to apologize to my customers who used our software and were affected by the disruption of service after we were caught,” he said. “This was not something we intended, but rather a forced choice.”
Gan also urged Chinese netizens to cherish the freedom they still have to bypass the Great Firewall.
“Based on my observations, the Great Firewall is becoming stricter and stricter,” Gan said.
He predicts that the CCP may establish a whitelist system in the future.
“Currently, people can bypass the Great Firewall simply because China uses a blacklist system,” he explained. “The blacklist system refers to the current approach, where they prohibit certain entities, such as NTD, Google, and Twitter.
“However, if they switch to a whitelist system, it would mean they only allow access to specific sites, and users wouldn’t be able to take alternative routes. This would make bypassing the firewall much more difficult—not impossible, but extremely challenging.
“Therefore, I hope people will cherish the hard-earned freedom they have,” he said.
