Shangwen Fang

Shangwen Fang, or Shangwen George Fang (Zh-cp|c=方尚文|p=Fang Shangwen) (born 28 November, 1978 in Taiwan) is a graduate with master degrees from Chung Yuan Christian University law and economics research institute, who came into the public eye for an incident where he displayed his abuse of a pet cat over the Internet. He is now working as a legal specialist in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

Biography

Fang was born in Kaohsiung, the second child in his family. His family moved to Taipei when Fang was three years old. After entering Taipei Municipal Chien-Kuo Senior High School, he developed a strong interest in politics. He joined several political groups in order to fulfill his dream of becoming a member of a legislative body. He was also interested in Communism and showed his appreciation toward the Communist Party.

Fang graduated form high school in 1997 and studied financial law as his undergraduate major in National Taipei University.

Fang entered the Chung Yuan Christian University law and economics research institute in 2001. He was interested in banking laws and engaged in quite a bit of research in his first year. He then began research into laws relating to human subject research and completed his dissertation on the topic. During his law school years, Fang did extensive international travel and wrote several articles about his experiences.

After obtaining the degree, Fang joined Taiwanese Army in 2004. He served as a second lieutenant in the legion of Military police and was then transferred to the Ministry of National Defense due to his legal specialty. As a facility officer at the Ministry of National Defense, Fang administered all reconstruction plans of Military Dependents' Village in Taipei. He completed three construction plans and provided more than two thousand apartments for military dependents.

Fang completed his compulsory military service at the end of 2005. He soon went abroad for worldwide research about human subject research. He travelled to China, Korea, the United States, and Costa Rica in order to find out the mutual proof of subjects being treated. After a month of the traveling, Fang went back to Taiwan and started his career as a legal specialist at a computer company in Taipei.

Cat abuse incident

In late June 2006, several graphic photos of cat abuse appeared in posts on a Chinese bulletin board. The author of the posts also claimed that he or she had abused the cats and would continue to do so. Describing his activities as discipline, the user posted pictures of him or her cutting a cat's whiskers, feeding one pepper and soap, and binding a cat's legs. The series concluded with a claim that he had seriously injured a cat by throwing it to the ground. [ [http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/detail.asp?ID=87139&GRP=B China Post article from Aug 4, 2006] ]

The user employed a feminine nickname, and the messages were written in Simplified Chinese, causing those who read the messages to believe that the poster was from the People's Republic of China. Other users, however, traced the IP address of the poster to a Taiwanese internet service provider. On August 1, 2006, with the clues provided by the Internet users, the Taipei police department announced that they had cited a man named Fang. According to Fang's posts, he had four kittens when he made the photos but he claimed that he had released them after he posted the messages.

Subsequent to the police information release, Shanweng Fang's name and personal information — including cell phone number, home address, birthdate and his family's phone number — were disclosed to the public by Internet users resulting in him being harassed and his safety being threatened. A demonstration was held outside Fang's known address, and Fang's neighbors were disturbed by the noise from the demonstration. When Fang returned briefly to retrieve his belongings from the apartment, demonstrators tried to attack Fang and threatened to "break into" his rental apartment to save the kittens. The protest lasted for more than 72 hours. [ [http://www.tvbs.com.tw/news/news_list.asp?no=aj100920060803183151 新聞內容 ] ] A female demonstrator, who also claimed to be a neighbor of Fang's, physically assaulted him. [ [http://www.tvbs.com.tw/news/news_list.asp?no=sharan20060803175518 新聞內容 ] ]

Fang argued that he did not commit any crime, claiming that he was giving his cats reasonable discipline. [ [http://www.ettoday.com/2006/08/03/91-1973962.htm ETtoday ] ] His mother blamed the Internet and the media for demonizing Fang, and attributed his behavior to an incident when he was bitten by a cat when he was young. [http://news.sina.com.tw/articles/14/04/49/14044982.html] Animal inspectors in Taipei fined Fang NT$50,000 for violating animal protection laws, and stated that if the kittens in the photo were confirmed killed as a result of his abusive actions, Fang would be issued an additional fine up to NT$250,000. Fang paid the NT$50,000 fine and did not contest the citation. Since then, the police and animal regulations officers have indicated that they had no reason to believe that Fang had actually killed a cat.

Fang gave TVBS News an exclusive interview on August 2, 2006, in which he apologized but tried to defend his own actions. The interview brought some controversy itself, as Apple Daily alleged that TVBS made an agreement with Fang for the exclusive interview in exchange for promise to be sympathetic in its coverage as well as assisting Fang in relocating his home. TVBS denied the allegations, and its anchor has stated that he interviewed Fang in order to give him an opportunity to defend himself. [ [http://www.ettoday.com/2006/08/08/340-1975691.htm ETtoday ] ] In the interview, he also displayed the food and the litterbox that he prepared for the cats in an effort to show that he was not sadistic toward the cats.

Edits on Chinese Wikipedia

Feeling that his privacy had been infringed, Fang demanded that Chinese Wikipedia delete the two articles detailing the incident — one about the incident, and one about Fang himself. Citing Taiwanese law regarding personal privacy, he not only asserted that all entries containing his private information should be removed because their original source was an illegal disclosure, but he further claimed that the posting of some additional information — such as his alma mater and his employer — constituted invasion of privacy as well. Fang further asserted that the posting of any information — including information that Fang himself had posted on the Internet previously — without his authorization constituted an invasion of privacy. He quoted statutory provisions and suggested that monetary damages were available. [ [http://zh.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:%E4%BA%92%E5%8A%A9%E5%AE%A2%E6%A0%88/%E6%96%B9%E9%92%88&oldid=2394389#.E6.96.B9.E5.B0.9A.E6.96.87 Village pump (policy) discussion] on Chinese Wikipedia] [ [http://zh.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:方尚文&oldid=2416987 Talk page edit by user claiming to be Fang] ] Since then, a discussion for deletion led to the merger of the two articles into a single article, concentrating on the incident and not Fang himself. [ [http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:删除投票和请求/2006年8月7日#.E6.96.B9.E5.B0.9A.E6.96.87 Discussion for deletion] ]

Recent life

After the incident was reported, Fang resigned from his job and moved away from his apartment. He wrote essays about animal protection in legal perspection in order to help the reform of Taiwanese laws. He is now working in a car leasing company as a legal specialist in Kaohsiung.

In January 2007, news reports indicate that Fang had finished paying the NT$50,000 fine he was ordered to pay, and that he had submitted an essay on suggested modifications to the ROC Animal Protection Law to show his remorse. However, he also expressed opposition to making animal cruelty an offense subject to imprisonment. [ [http://tw.news.yahoo.com/article/url/d/a/070122/17/9mu5.html] ]

ee also

*2002 Japan animal cruelty case

References