Whistle-blower weathers the storm

Six days after a seven-hour negotiation session with Chongqing police in Beijing, Zhu Ruifeng, 43, the whistle-blower responsible for lifting the lid on a sex and corruption scandal that drew national attention, was still busy taking interviews, saying he had been surprised by his newfound fame.

Zhu, who runs the Hong-Kong registered anti-graft website jdwsy.com, has been in the media spotlight since he asked for help on his Sina Weibo on January 27, saying that five police officers, including two from Chongqing, were outside his Beijing apartment trying to take him away.

The video Zhu exposed online in late November, which showed Lei Zhengfu, the former Party secretary of Chongqing's Beibei district having sex with a young woman in a hotel room, claimed Lei's position within 63 hours. Another 10 officials and State-owned enterprise executives were found to have been involved in similar scandals and were sacked two months later.

Zhu received massive online support for his "heroic" endeavors; however, his self-described role as a "citizen reporter" has also made him almost as much of a target as those he exposed.

Scandal that went viral

Zhu kept himself away from the front lines when the scandal first broke. He first gave the link to the video to Ji Xuguang, an investigative reporter, and the video went viral after Ji posted it on his microblog on November 20 last year.

Ji conducted a high-profile follow-up investigation that continued for several days after Lei was sacked. The issue began to fade from public attention until Chongqing authorities announced another 10 dismissals related to the scandal on January 24. Zhu then claimed that he had evidence implicating even higher-ranking officials, which added fuel to the fire and had Chongqing police knocking on his door.

Zhu wrote on his Sina Weibo account that he refused to open the door and agreed to talk at the Dewai police station near his home the next day after a three-hour argument, then later posted the surveillance footage.

Zhu refused to hand over his evidence in order to protect his source, who was a member inside the city's police system, during the seven-hour negotiation on January 28 with two Chongqing police officers. "I told them, what I'm doing echoes General Secretary Xi Jinping's recent anti-graft speech and they looked discouraged," Zhu told the Global Times after he had finished the discussion.

Twin aspects of controversy

The reaction of both the public and the authorities has been divided between praise and condemnation. Zhu became an anti-graft hero to many, especially after he linked his career with the anti-corruption "storm" that has been emphasized since the CPC's 18th National Congress. However, he has also faced tough problems, such as questions over his marriage and economic issues. He has also been accused of merely seeking fame, as he hasn't published further evidence despite claims he has more.

As Xinhua reports extolled his virtues, he was being locked out of his Weibo accounts, with posts also being deleted.

An online post that claimed to reveal his "true colors" was spread online after his run-in with the police, saying he divorced his ex-wife in his hometown and only married his current wife, who is a military officer, to get a household registration in Beijing, and that he bought an expensive apartment using hush money while claiming to live on contribution fees and sponsorship from friends.

Zhu called the post "pure defamation" and said it was a strategy by the government to attack him. "I divorced my ex-wife 20 years ago and sold my house in Zhengzhou and borrowed some money from friends to buy the apartment; the hush money part was taken from a defamation lawsuit I won three years ago," he said.

Zhu said he has a "protection group" including some prestigious lawyers, legal scholars and reporters to help him deal with dangerous situations, and he crafted a statement appointing his spokesperson, emergency contact and legal advisor in the event of an emergency.

Zhu says he is tired of these conflicts. "I recently filed a divorce application to protect my wife and daughter, that's the only way, and I would like to continue my career."

Smooth operator

Zhu founded his website in 2006 after quitting a magazine that was managed under the auspices of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, "to really supervise public power freely."

He was a businessman for 15 years before becoming a "citizen reporter," selling clothes and shoes and investing in a hotel in his hometown in Henan Province.

The hotel was demolished in 2001 and he was left without compensation. His attempts at a lawsuit also failed. "It revealed the ugliness of public authorities to me and I decided to expose their dark side when I found out they were afraid of public opinion."

According to the website, his reports have resulted in the sacking of 15 department-level officials and even more have been exposed. He has received death threats and offers or bribes, and has been assaulted. His website has been shut down several times, but "I managed to persevere and ensure my reports are objective and truthful," he said.

Although many members of the public have used the Web to expose corruption, Zhu considers himself a "professional." However, he does not have a press card or a formal employer, what he carries is a letter stating that "the Constitution offers citizens the right to supervise," which provided him access to officials on a number of occasions.

Whether he was ready for fame or not, Lei's case demonstrated that Zhu is well versed in using the media to garner support. Ding Laifeng, a seasoned public relations professional, commented that Zhu knows how to get opinion leaders endorse him and encourage foreign media to report on his stories, giving his reports more influence.

Zhu's Sina Weibo account was silenced just hours after his initial call for help, but a microblog operations manager at Tencent surnamed Gao told the Global Times that he promoted Zhu's account as much as possible until the negotiations were over, saying he was "trying to give it as much influence as possible."

Cheng Hai, one of Zhu's lawyers, also told the Global Times that his Weibo entries gathered a lot of attention, especially from celebrities, which prevented the Chongqing police from taking further action.