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Hidden Identity via Shutterstock

Explainer: What is a human flesh search engine?

They can be as scary as they sound.

A CHINESE FAMILY made global news this week as the parents of a 15-year-old boy were forced to apologise to the world for their teenager’s behaviour.

The young boy had etched his name into an artwork at an ancient Egyptian temple a few years ago, not knowing the importance of the relic or the eventual consequences of his actions.

When an image of the graffiti, which said ‘Ding Jinhao was here’, went viral, many were outraged at the lack of respect for an important piece of art.

It was shared up to 100,000 on Chinese micro-blogging site Weibo and a “human flesh search engine” was initiated.

It led us to look further into the fairly recent phenomenon and ask, what exactly is a human flesh search engine?

Peter Steiner/The New Yorker (1993)

Peter Steiner’s famous comic strip from 1993 (above) has been changed by Chinese web users to read, “On the Internet, everybody knows you’re a dog” and that’s largely down to the human flesh search engine.

Arriving in their first form in 2006, they were used to find obscure information and reveal internet identities. Often the goal was to get revenge and shame the perceived culprit through various means.

According to researcher Vincent Capone from the University of Massachussetts, who has a particular interest in the area, it is unique to the Chinese community of internet users, known as netizens. He describes the search as “comprising of thousands of forum, micro-blog and entertainments sites” to mobilise “the overwhelming number of Chinese internet users”.

The phrase, which can sound intimidating and dangerous, is directly translated as renrou sousou yinqing (人肉搜搜引擎 – thanks to The Atlantic for that translation).

Although the human search engine was first used to share information as part of attempts to find love and friendship, it soon moved away from such benign beginning. Now, the unending search for justice can be seen as unfair or disproportionate to the initial action in cases where people are looking for vindication or someone to blame. One man, an adulterous husband who became infamous in Beijing, had to go into hiding after the diary of his late wife was published. She had died by suicide and her sister had taken to the Internet to tell the world about alleged mistreatment during their marriage.

The majority, however, are established to bring about justice. This can take the form of uncovering the identity of a wrongdoer, getting someone dismissed from their employment, running them out of town or simply shaming them in public.

Cappone has a straight-forward explanation for how they work:

Comprised of thousands of blogs, microblogs, online forums, and Twitter-esque Chinese websites, the Human Flesh Search Engine is a phrase that encompasses the sheer power that the Chinese internet holds, a power that is shaped from the overwhelming number of internet netizens and their ability to use the internet as a means for research to uncover and spread various stories, as well as use the internet as a medium for releasing anger over social injustices that go unnoticed offline and by the Communist government.

The first human flesh search

As with most things online, the first of its kind involved a cat.

In 2006, a video of a middle-aged woman crushing a kitten with her high-heeled shoe was posted to a Chinese website. Web users set to work. According to the New York Times, the initial responses to the clip were about getting justice. “Find her and kick her to death like she did to the kitten,” wrote one. Soon though, people began to ask more practical questions and soon found out who she was.

Cappone says she was harrassed to the point the government got involved. She was a nurse and her “iron rice bowl” job (a label used to signify a secure job with a pension) was terminated. She also left the town she lived in.

The era of the online vigilante had arrived.

In 2010, a New York Times article reported that since 2006, searches were directed at cheating husbands, corrupt government officials, pornography makers, unpatriotic citizens, journalists who encourage a moderate stance on Tibet and rich people trying to play the system.

Can they do good?

Another famous human flesh search is often cited as one that provided justice in a case that would have otherwise seen an innocent woman jailed.

Deng Yujiao, a young woman from Hubei, was charged with murder. The pedicurist was accused of stabbing an official to death with a pedicure knife at a hotel.

She had killed him – that was true. But she had done it as he and two other officials attempted to rape her.

A citizen reporter called Wu Gan, who is also known as Butcher, got wind of the real story and prepared a blog post, knowing he would need many netizens to fire up a human flesh search engine.

Deng was eventually released without charge.

Wu Gan told The Atlantic:

The cultural significance of flesh searches is this: In an undemocratic country, the people have limited means to get information. Information about [the activities of] public power is not transparent and operates in a black box, [but] citizens can get access to information through the Internet, exposing lies and the truth. It is a kind of asymmetrical means of protest [畸形的抗争手段], and in some ways has had good effects.

Will they spread?

Cappone says the search is unique to China and, certainly, it is the only country where there is a name put on the concept (it is even used as a verb – to be human-flesh-searched is a phrase commonly used as a threat). But the recent bomb attacks on Boston during the city’s marathon showed there is some appetite for crowd-sourcing justice in other areas of the world.

It also revealed how dangerous such vigilantism can be.

Photos of a number of innocent people were published across the web (and on the front pages of some newspapers) as the search for the real culprits continued. Some were even forced to go public to profess their innocence.

US citizens may well be warned by the events of last April. They may also be reticent to take part in any populist revenge because of fears of lawsuits for defamation and breach of privacy.

In fact, the adulterous husband, mentioned earlier, looked for damages in his case. He won but only a small amount and it didn’t stop the vigilantes. One Netizen wrote: “To all employers: Never offer Wang Fei or Dong Fang jobs, otherwise Moppers will human-flesh-search-you.” (Moppers is the nickname given to users of the website Mop, which is often used in searches.)

In Taiwan, the practice has been given a legal status when it occurs in the “public interest”. And often in China, they are used to catch out corrupt government officials – and not every call for a search is answered.

But should there be a line? Has it gone too far when the name, school and birth date of a 15-year-old boy is made public in order to shame him for being, well, a teenager?

Read: A Chinese teenager etched his name onto an ancient Egyptian relic

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10 Comments
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    Mute Marty from Sligo
    Favourite Marty from Sligo
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 3:45 PM

    I think Pat has every right to object to planning permission like any other citizen it’s all within the law.

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    Mute Daithi Ó Raghallaigh
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 3:50 PM

    @Marty from Sligo:oF course he does who would seriously want an apartment block looking down on their house.

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    Mute Gerry Campbell
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 11:07 PM

    @Marty from Sligo: and to tip off now with his tail between his louis copeland clad,legs….

    23
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    Mute Ger
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 3:51 PM

    Pat Kenny wrecks my head and I could fill this post with enough negative opinions to get it deleted but I have to say that I’m in agreement with him here. I’m familiar with the site and can’t for the life of me figure out how planning permission has been given for this development. There is no doubt that Kennys house and garden will be impacted and overlooked and it will drive the price of his house down. I don’t have sympathy necessarily, just in agreement with him.

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    Mute Manbackonboard
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 4:22 PM

    @Ger: I really like his radio show on Newstalk. Rarely does he discuss a topic that I’m not interested in.

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    Mute Whoswho
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 6:23 PM

    @Manbackonboard: Rarely is anything he says of any interest!

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    Mute Bobby Daly
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    Jul 23rd 2019, 9:52 PM

    @Whoswho: he knows politics inside out, very brainy man.

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    Mute saoirse janneau
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 3:53 PM

    karma after how bitter his dispute with his neighbour went a few years ago.

    266
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    Mute Peter Hughes
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 7:28 PM

    @saoirse janneau: High court will throw it out, cannot have their toff neighbors getting upset now can they lol.

    30
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    Mute Greg Dunne
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 3:56 PM

    Poor auld pat hasn’t a great relationship with his neighbours. If he’s not trying to claim squatter rights on a patch of land owned by a neighbour, he’s objecting to planning for homes

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    Mute James Wallace
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 4:00 PM

    @Greg Dunne: his neighbours are with him on this one

    87
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    Mute Darius Guppy
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 5:05 PM

    @James Wallace: actually the family he took to court after the land grab are the same family that used to own the house which is now being developed.

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    Mute Russel Steapot
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 8:57 PM

    @Darius Guppy: If that’s true it’s beautiful karma.

    Karma will always come back to bite you in the ass folks. Be nice to others.

    37
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    Mute Simon Palmer
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    Jul 23rd 2019, 10:34 AM

    @Greg Dunne: His neighbours opposed it too. The apartments will be overlooking their kids’ bedrooms.

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    Mute Bobby Daly
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    Jul 23rd 2019, 9:56 PM

    @Russel Steapot: ye man because only bad things happen to bad people. Do you ever wonder what all those starving people in Africa done to deserve the life they have. You actually believe, what goes around comes around. Ha

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    Mute Liam Meade
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 3:46 PM

    “Ahh! poor pat has t have human beings
    living beside him”

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    Mute Whoswho
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 6:22 PM

    @Liam Meade: He doesn’t have a right if he’s going on about the housing crisis on his radio show and giving out about people appealing.

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    Mute Peter Murphy
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    Jul 24th 2019, 6:51 PM

    @Liam Meade: And who knows ,perhaps these appartments might be used to house some migrants, you know the ones pat is forever telloing everybody else to accept with open arms. Oh the irony.

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    Mute Wild Goose
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 4:00 PM

    I’m with Pat on this. It’s an outrageous decision and what’s the point of having a Planning Inspector if he is going to be overruled. Now what’s that whiff?

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    Mute Bobby Daly
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    Jul 23rd 2019, 9:58 PM

    @Wild Goose: i smell an envelope full of cash

    6
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    Mute Josh Hanners
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 3:59 PM

    As Pat has such an aversion to people living near him, would he not buy a house in Donegal?

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    Mute Gerry Ryan
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 5:15 PM

    After 40 years of propping up the established order faithfully it must be galling for Pat that the established order didn’t care.

    73
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    Mute Daithi Ó Raghallaigh
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 3:48 PM

    An Bord Pleanála never get it wrong. Don’t think any riff-raff will be moving in there, they will go for a small fortune.

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    Mute Jointheclubtoo
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 4:26 PM

    @Daithi Ó Raghallaigh: Just because they will go for a small fortune doesn’t mean there will be no riff raff moving inn. What you meant was no working class plebs can afford them, right?

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    Mute Owen Lynch
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 6:09 PM

    @Daithi Ó Raghallaigh: There is riff raff there already.

    34
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    Mute Irish big fellow
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 5:13 PM

    What % will be social housing?
    I suppose none. Why is that the case?

    47
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    Mute John R
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 6:32 PM

    There are a number of very strange decisions coming out of An Bord Pleanala. They reject the views of the local authority and they reject the views of their own inspectors. The justification they appear to offer is very vague unlike the rejections offered by the local authorities and their own inspectors. The problem is simply this. If people feel that an appeal board can make arbitrary decisions without reference to established facts, evidence and precedence then public support will collapse. Ultimately local authorities must determine how areas are to be developed. Now we have An Bord Pleanala making very fundamental decisions with no democratic accountability. One may not like the approach of certain local authorities but this is not to way to better development.

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    Mute Paul A Whelan
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 7:33 PM

    @John R: agree completely.

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    Mute John Murphy
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 7:06 PM

    Delighted, this man earned most his money from us, yet he would not want any of us living near him, god bless the board

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    Mute Wild Goose
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 7:36 PM

    @John Murphy: No need for that at all you narrow minded moron.

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    Mute Anna Kavanagh
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 4:55 PM

    The issue here is that it is the second time this month that An Bord Pleanála ignored their inspectors’ reports and granted Bartra Property planning permission. Earlier in the month after a protracted planning struggle they granted Bartra permission to build a number of housing units at Bulloch Harbour.

    https://www.google.ie/amp/s/www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/housing-development-at-bulloch-harbour-in-dalkey-gets-go-ahead-1.3944131%3fmode=amp

    45
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    Mute Dave Doyle
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 5:13 PM

    @Anna Kavanagh: The planning inspector ignored on two occasions involving the same company? If that doesn’t raise a bad smell nothing will.

    84
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    Mute Eimear
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 7:19 PM

    @Anna Kavanagh: maybe some kick back going to that developer… twice in one month but Sus

    15
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    Mute Aidan Mccullough
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 6:50 PM

    This must be a shock for Pat. The old boy network normally looks after it’s own.

    41
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    Mute Gary Stevenson
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 4:59 PM

    So in lay man’s terms,who ever lives in these apartments will be looking down on the Kenny’s,

    42
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    Mute Paul Brierley
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 4:09 PM

    Must be very high tides down that neck of the woods in you can anchor your boat to Pats house!

    39
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    Mute Jointheclubtoo
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 6:17 PM

    @Paul Brierley: They are walking on the Plank.

    13
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    Mute sean de paore
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 5:47 PM

    Pat is excellent on Newstalk. Unlike those two morning fellas and Dr Kelly.

    39
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    Mute Count Craicula
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 6:49 PM

    Could he not just have claimed squatter’s rights on the plot?

    30
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    Mute Top Horse Shop
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 4:33 PM

    Something smells a bit “fishy ” about
    this one !!!

    34
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    Mute John Mc Donagh
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 8:16 PM

    I can sympathise with him ——-It must be terrible to have to face the prospect of having lots of ordinary people living all around you.

    29
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    Mute Bass demon
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 11:03 PM

    Any of these privileged toffs in these leafy areas would object to a garden shed being built in the neighbouring garden most of them have acres of land around them that is unused and unnecessary ,It’s about time that planning authorities started cracking the whip and approved new developments in these zones as most working and middle class areas are are over developed with very little room for any more accommodation to be built.

    24
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    Mute Joxer23
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 5:45 PM

    Can understand Pats concern at the invasion of the privacy of himself and his neighbours and there is also the matter of the destruction a lovely little stretch of coastline

    24
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    Mute Sportmad
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 5:32 PM

    This seems to be the Practice in planning all over Limerick have a few high rise planning applications in residential areas but the lack of road network in areas does not matter I seen a plan near me that will see the traffic increase by over 500 cars beside a school that is already in chaos with cars.
    The council have no say over it..
    Networks need attention in all planning applications but never are.. feel sorry for Pat..

    17
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    Mute Robbie Clancy
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    Jul 22nd 2019, 5:09 PM

    Why did I already have my mind made up before I even read the article.

    15
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    Mute Ken Mac Iomaire
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    Jul 23rd 2019, 10:55 PM

    Pat stop spending money on legal fees pack up and just leave the country already.

    7
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