N News Express | Fang Ran, a labor researcher at the University of Hong Kong, is "suspected of subverting state power", and friends say "he is just a student with a passion for labor research"

Reporting: Xiaochong, Xiaoyu Editing: Yiyi, Xiaotang 

Fang Ran has been doing labor research for 7 years, from an undergraduate degree at Tsinghua University to a doctorate at Hong Kong University, and was still continuing his doctoral research until he was taken away by the National Security Bureau of Nanning City, Guangxi on August 26 this year. At the age of 26, he goes to factories all over the country all the year round to do fieldwork, eat and live with workers, and help workers with pneumoconiosis to defend their rights. As he put it, "combining theory with practice".

However, his enthusiasm for research and personal practice have been officially regarded as "suspected of subverting state power".

Several friends of Fang Ran confirmed to NGOCN that on August 26, Fang Ran was placed under residential surveillance at a designated residence by the Nanning police on suspicion of "subversion of state power" and has since lost contact with him.

Fang Ran's friend Wu Ying (pseudonym) told NGOCN that Fang Ran's hometown was in Nanning, and the local police seized his mobile phone and computer at the end of June, and called him to get it at the end of August. When he returned to his hometown, he was taken away directly by the police. Wu Ying also added that Fang Ran has been harassed by the Nanning police for a long time. He thought that this time he was only interviewed as usual, without any preparations, and he did not expect to be directly placed under residential surveillance at a designated place.

"I'm very sad now and worried about his condition inside," Wu Ying said. "Designated residential surveillance is torturous. He has never been treated like this. I worry about his physical and mental abuse."

Residential surveillance at a designated location is called a "super detention method" that is "prone to human rights violations" by domestic legal circles. Lawyer Si Weijiang once wrote : In this case, you may be detained in a secret location for 6 months, or a year. You don't see a lawyer, and your family doesn't know how you're doing? It's not even certain that you're alive, because it could be a long time before the trial begins. Not to mention the people inside, the vast majority, would choose to confess their sins.

"No one knew where he was, and he didn't hire a lawyer. If he did, he couldn't see him. We can only wait for the official announcement," Wu Ying said.

NGOCN did not contact the Nanning police because interviewing the Nanning public security department is likely to bring more danger to Fang Ran and his family. But this state of no news made the family who were worried day and night very tormented. A letter of help titled " I'm in pain every day, save my child " was circulated on social media. The father, signed by Fang Jianzhong, explained his party membership in the first sentence of the letter and said that he was also a party member. Fang Ran, his son, "is by no means a criminal who undermines the cause of the party, but an aspiring youth who contributes to the cause of our party." In the last sentence of the letter, it is specifically mentioned that "Fang Ran has neither motivation nor sufficient realistic conditions to engage in any illegal activities."

Although Fang Jianzhong could not be contacted, NGOCN verified the authenticity of the letter of help through various channels.

"He just went to fieldwork to understand the working conditions of the workers, to help them safeguard their rights and change the status quo. How could he subvert state power?" Wu Ying said, many friends were puzzled by the "subversion crime" that Fang Ran was accused of. and anger.

She said that Fang Ran's doctoral dissertation was about the intersection of labor and history, and recently went to many factories in the south to do fieldwork. In 2018, "Curiosity Daily" interviewed Fang Ran, who had just graduated from Tsinghua University, and recorded that he went to a printing factory in Yizhuang, Beijing to experience the life of a worker: 15 hours a day to post anti-counterfeiting labels to "Five-year College Entrance Examination and Three-Year Simulation", and to "Centennial". Lonely" package book; also wrote that he traveled to Guangdong and Hunan, went to the relief station and home of workers suffering from pneumoconiosis, recorded for them, and helped them defend their rights.

"He is a student with a passion for labor studies," Wu said. "Fang Ran cares about laborers and vulnerable groups. He also realizes the hardships of workers' lives. He has a passion for political economy theory and hopes to help improve their lives."

In 2018, Fang Ran came to the University of Hong Kong under the tutelage of Professor Pan Yi, a senior researcher on Chinese labor issues. "Academia has already researched a lot of 'good things'," he told Curiosity Daily before going to Hong Kong for further studies. He said that theory and practice should be combined.

Professor Pan Yi recently learned that Fang Ran was taken away by the police. She declined an interview with NGOCN, but said she was trying to figure out what happened and said she wanted to know how to help and protect Fang Ran.

A spokesman for the University of Hong Kong replied to NGOCN's interview: "The University is aware of the relevant incident, and is actively concerned about it, and will provide assistance to Mr. Fang and his family as appropriate."

Labor movements, labor NGOs, and labor academic research flourished in the early 2000s. Workers in Guangdong and Fujian went on strike and negotiated compensation and work-related injury insurance with employers. The 2011 strike at Yantian International Freight Terminal even prompted workers to join the government. Establish independent trade unions under coordination. But around 2015, the labor movement and labor NGOs suffered massive repression. The "Jasic Worker Incident" in 2018 was further characterized by Xinhua News Agency as "gathering a crowd to make trouble" that was "trained and funded by an overseas organization", and put double quotation marks on the article 17 "rights protection".

The reporter observed that after the Jasic workers' movement incident, the labor rights protection movement almost disappeared from the mainstream level, and even words such as "labor" and "rights protection" have become highly sensitive words. But the Jasic incident did not stop Fang Ran's fieldwork on labor issues. During his Ph.D., he traveled to factories in the southern provinces, working and living with the workers, while studying their living conditions, work-related injury insurance, and systemic issues of pneumoconiosis treatment.

Friends say that Fang Ran has a strong sense of justice and a "sense of faith", but also has a bit of persistence and a simple childishness. He cares about various social events, Beijing removes the "low-end population", the #MeToo anti-sexual harassment campaign, and he always actively speaks out online. When he encounters national teachers who promote nationalism and authoritarianism in the name of Marxism, he will always argue with them from an academic point of view.

"If he thinks the other party is going too far, he wants the other party to reason clearly if he doesn't sleep," Wu Ying said.

Fang Ran in life is a cheerful big boy. Friends described that Fang Ran was thin and tall, with curly hair and glasses. He liked to listen to "Kill That Shijiazhuang Man" by the Universal Youth Hostel. "I gave him a canvas bag, and he would carry it every time he saw me," Wu Ying said.

But the "big boy" disappeared 5 days ago, and his friends were worried that his body and mind would be unable to bear the most likely abuse during the residential surveillance in the designated place.

"His heart is full of idealistic simplicity, full of enthusiasm for labor rights protection and social welfare, and he doesn't know what will happen in (residential surveillance)," Wu Ying said.

In 2017, Fang Ran, who was still at Tsinghua University, published an article titled “War, the World System and the Future of the Labor Movement” on the official account “Political Opinion CNpolitics”, at the end of which he wrote:

Intellectually, we have to prepare for the worst, and mentally, we have to believe that the future is bright and work hard for it. If the world can embark on a path of fairer, more sustainable and more peaceful development in the not too distant future, the ongoing struggle for dignity and justice by Chinese workers will undoubtedly play a vital role in it.

 Below are the relevant screenshots:

(In order to protect the personal information of the respondents, Wu Ying is a pseudonym)