Oh, Fang Binxing. Will he ever be a sympathetic figure? Reports Offbeat China, he resigned on Wednesday due to bad health:

“I used to have good health, easily finishing a 2000-meter freestyle swim without a break . But due to overuse of my body, I lost the ability to work overnight after a serious illness. I can no long shoulder the responsibilities of academia and school management at the same time. That’s why I submitted my resignation to the authorities.”

And netizens have responded by wishing for his death:

Poor guy. We’ve posted enough nasty things about this little shit, so we’ll refrain from piling on. Karma’s a bitch.

“Get lost” (滚, gǔn) isn’t the worst thing one can write to another person. But what if 10,000 people do it? Would it result in hurt feelings?

Fang Binxing can tell you.

For Chinese New Year’s, Fang, known as the father of the Great Firewall, posted a nice little greeting (in third-person) on his Sina Weibo: “Fang Binxing wishes everyone a happy new year! Success in all endeavors in the Year of the Snake!” it began.

By Monday afternoon, upwards of 10,000 Weibo users — among the (now) 30,000 reposts — forwarded the message with an appended note: 滚.

One person doing it is “get lost.” A few more is “take a hike.” 10,000? That’s “fuck off” in all-caps.

This isn’t the first time Fang’s been the target of invective, online and otherwise.

When he first joined Sina Weibo in 2010, he got so much abuse that he took his account offline. What kind of abuse? Examples via China Digital Times:

-I want to know how Fang Binxing’s mother feels about those comments???
-a Twitter user is here to laugh at Eunuch Fang’s GFW.
-fuck45364378885 gfw.
- He’s a skunk lower than animals.
-This SOB dares to show up here. F–k your sister.
-Greetings to your whole family.
-f–k you 404 times.
- Let’s throw bricks at Fang Binxing as quick as possible.

And then he was pelted by eggs in real life, to “delight”:

The attack on Fang Binxing – a figure popularly reviled by China’s young tech-savvy elite – caused instant uproar and delight on the Chinese internet after the students posted an account of their protest on micro-blogging platforms.

But look at the smiling man in the profile in the above picture, just a happy fool. Would people actually wish him dead?

Um, yeah. Tea Leaf Nation:

“It’s a shame it wasn’t you.” This comment, reposted thousands of times, came in response to an obituary posted by Fang Binxing on Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter.

It’s one thing to be hated because you’re an athlete wearing another city’s colors, or trying something new, pushing the envelop, making jokes. To engineer an all-encompassing system designed to hinder, obstruct, and generally frustrate? You can’t blame the people for hating, at the very least.

This paragraph is simply THE WORST. It comes from Global Times, of course, in a story headlined, “Foreign-run VPNs illegal in China: govt” (emphasis mine):

Residents in China have found logging into their Facebook and Twitter accounts increasingly difficult in recent days, after several popular VPN (virtual private network) companies have alleged that China’s Great Firewall (GFW) has been upgraded. However, officials and experts in China’s Internet industry have said that it is illegal for foreign companies to operate a VPN business in China.

However. Adverb. Used to introduce a statement that contrasts or contradicts a previous one. Example: It is hot; however, I am cold. And: Global Times does good work; however, it gets no respect in wider media circles due to its harebrained editorials that add nothing to any discussion whatsoever.

However, as used by Global Times: “But go fuck yourselves, because.”

As in:

Residents in China have found logging into their Facebook and Twitter accounts increasingly difficult in recent days…

FACT.

…after several popular VPN (virtual private network) companies have alleged that China’s Great Firewall (GFW) has been upgraded.

FACT.

But go fuck yourselves, because officials and experts in China’s Internet industry have said that it is illegal for foreign companies to operate a VPN business in China.

God damn you. To Hell. You fucking nit.

Fang Binxing…

No. Fuck YOU. FUCK.

…designer of the GFW, told the Global Times Thursday he did not know of any upgrade to the firewall.

“As far as I know, companies running a VPN business in China must register with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. I haven’t heard that any foreign companies have registered,” Fang said.

You fucking fuckhead. I want to punch you through a wall.

An executive at a large foreign technology multinational corporation in China, who is also a VPN user, told the Global Times most people can survive without Facebook…

Oh THANK FUCKING GAWD.

…but lacking a VPN could seriously influence business operations.

Ah yes, there we go. Hit them where it hurts. You know what happens when business operations are influenced seriously? Imports and exports go down. And what then? Trade relationships are damaged. And then? A loss of respect in the international community. And…? Hurt feelings. And then??? Riots on the streets. Amplification of negative China overage in Western media. Misunderstanding. Hostility. Xenophobia. Isolationism. WORLD WAR III. Nuclear holocaust.

Don’t block our VPNs, China. They’re all that’s left standing between you and the end of the world.