Qin Huohuo


Qin Zhihui, also known under the pseudonym Qin Huohuo, is an internet celebrity infamous as a rumormonger. He has been accused of fabricating and spreading rumors online via the Sina Weibo microblogging website.
He is the first person to appear in court on rumormongering charges since the Ministry of Public Security vowed to target those who spread online rumors in August 2013.

Biography

Qin Zhihui was born in Hengnan County, in Hunan, China. After high school, he went to work in Guangzhou. He was a text checker in Northern China, then moved back to Hunan to study in 2004. In 2005, he went to Beijing to work for Huayi Baichuang. He joined brand management company Erma in 2010 and left in 2011.

Creating rumors

Qin was found guilty of spreading rumors about several celebrities including popular television hostess Yang Lan, as well as China's former Ministry of Railways, via Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like service, from 2012 to 2013.
Prosecutors said that Qin's widely spread posts included one claiming that Beijing had granted 30 million euros in compensation to a foreigner who died in a train crash in east China's Zhejiang Province in 2011.
The rumor was reposted 11,000 times and commented on 3,300 times, with Qin's fabrication inciting anger over apparent disparities in how foreigners and Chinese were compensated after the accident.
According to officials, Qin created and reposted rumors 3,000 times on Sina Weibo. The important rumors are:
  1. Wenzhou train collision: The weibo is "After just got the news, Railway Ministry has train accident victims in Italy Sissy agreement compensation thirty million euros, it is the Ministry of Railways with reference to European law provisions relating to personal accident, had to agree to the compensation agreement. If this is true compensation agreement, will create China's foreign personal accident up to record."
  2. Make Lei Feng luxury life: The weibo is "Lei Feng in 1959 for his purchase of a leather jacket, wool pants, black shoes and so full of high-end line head, leather jacket, wool pants, shoes, then add about 90 yuan, while Lei's wage was only six yuan a month."
  3. Hype Guo Meimei incident
  4. Created rumor about donation by Red Cross.
  5. Created rumor about Zhang Haidi has Japanese Citizenship. The weibo is "Once a generation idol Zhang Haidi, please answer the following several questions: Why was your sister renamed Zhang Nuowei? Billionaire, Shandong Ruisen Construction Engineering Co., Ltd. Chairman Zhang Nuowei, has Chinese nationality? Ruisen whether to undertake projects about CDPF? Please use facts to prove you are not supercilious look wolf, then we do not want to love the results kept a supercilious look wolf."
  6. Created rumor about Luo Yuan and Kong Qingdong.
On August 19, 2013, police searched the Erma Company, and Qin was arrested on the same day.

Trial

On April 11, 2014, Beijing Chaoyang People's Court heard Qin's cases.
Three days later, the court found him guilty on defamation and rogue, sentencing him to 3 years in jail on defamation charges and another year for affray. The court held that Qin's actions impacted society and seriously harmed social order, but said it used leniency in the sentence taking into consideration his attitude in confessing truthfully about what he did.
Qin has been released from prison in June 2016 after his 3-year sentence expired.