Today’s focus: Fugitive software tester reveals fraud and violence within the Communist Party’s digital governance system, extreme monitoring of personal behavior; Mainland enterprises sweeping through Hong Kong, local business characteristics difficult to sustain.
Chen Endé used to be a so-called software tester under the rule of the Communist Party, handling testing for numerous national enterprises and official projects. He first worked at a “shell company” for software testing, then resigned and moved to the data backend of Ali Rookies Technology, and later to the government affairs platform of Tianque Technology. Over a period of seven to eight years, he personally experienced the rampant data falsification, academic corruption, and the dark secrets of the national digital surveillance system in China. Finally, in 2023, he fled to the United States and exposed everything. In a recent interview with the Epoch Times, he disclosed that his industry is filled with deception and forgery, and the Communist Party uses digital information to tightly control the survival rights of every individual in society.
36-year-old Chen Endé explained that early on, through family connections, he entered a Beijing-based so-called software testing company as a factory worker in 2015 and was employed in software testing projects.
The company appeared to be engaged in software testing work, but in reality, it was just a “shell company” without a formal office space. With no official office space and no professional team, they relied solely on phone and WeChat communications to assign work. All of Chen Endé’s work was done in the humble room he rented.
He confessed that at the time, he only had a one-year vocational school education and had not received formal training. The company even forged a diploma for him to meet project requirements.
Although he was officially tasked with system testing missions, in reality, he only composed reports based on the operational procedures and expected results provided by the other party, and submitted them for approval from the “National Information Center Software Evaluation Center.”
Chen Endé’s first project was writing a testing report for China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec). Over the following two years, he successively handled testing work for organizations such as the National Bureau of Letters and Visits, Tsinghua University, Beijing Agricultural University, and the Ningxia Bureau of Letters and Visits.
The most memorable case for Chen Endé was a project for an agricultural university. The software was riddled with loopholes, and they openly admitted to him that this old software was simply a rebranded version created haphazardly to apply for research project funding again, with no real intention of using it.
Similar instances included a “drone operation system” from Tsinghua University. Chen Endé only received an operating manual, never saw a drone, and couldn’t even start the system. Nevertheless, he still produced a so-called “testing report,” which was then reviewed and stamped by the National Information Center as the basis for funding applications.
Chen Endé revealed that the key figure in the entire testing business was Professor Chen Li from Beihang University in Beijing. She served as the outward-facing person and the main designated individual for projects. The owner of the shell company was a former student of Chen Li’s at Beihang, and at Chen Li’s suggestion, they established “Zhongce Software Evaluation” to take on more “official” testing projects.
In order to give the laboratory “legitimate qualifications,” the boss even bribed the national laboratory auditing personnel. Chen Endé said, “This top-down, relationship-protected model is practically normal in the Chinese officialdom.”
Once he was urgently demanded by his superior to rewrite a report overnight, and the next day personally delivered 20,000 RMB in cash to the National Information Center.
Upon arrival, the staff immediately understood his purpose and directly accepted the money, took the USB drive he brought, printed the report, stamped it, and sealed it. The usual review process would take three to five days, but with cash and connections, it could be completed in a day.
As Chen Endé produced more and more reports, he grew increasingly uneasy. He feared he might eventually become a scapegoat and decided to resign. Following that, he attended a six-month software development training course.
In May 2018, he joined Alibaba’s subsidiary Rookie Network Technology company, where he collected and organized user logistics information and sold this information to domestic courier companies.
To his surprise, the internal system allowed access to full user purchase records, product details, recipient names, phone numbers, and addresses.
He stated that Alibaba had a Communist Party branch within the company, and data could be provided to the Communist authorities at any time. “As long as the government wants to target someone, all this information can be immediately reported; nobody would refuse.”
After leaving Alibaba Rookie Technology at the end of 2019, Chen Endé joined a company in Hangzhou called Tianque Technology, which provided digital government services specifically for the Zhejiang province, where they implemented a “grid management” system. This system categorized the population based on household registration, residency, mobility, etc., and established a list of key individuals of interest, including petitioners and dissenters.
This system could report abnormal behavior in real-time, achieving high-efficiency surveillance and alert purposes, resembling an operational “digital surveillance camera.” The system also integrated internal work flow applications from Alibaba’s DingTalk and other enterprises, assisting the government in monitoring the approval processes and activities of grassroots employees.
Since 2016, the Communist Party has been promoting digital RMB (digital wallet), and in 2023, it launched an upgraded version of digital ID cards, officially named “National Network Identity Authentication.” It currently covers 17 provinces across China and is integrated with 67 commonly used applications such as WeChat, Taobao, Xiaohongshu, China Railway 12306, State Council and local government affairs platforms.
He warned that once the digital ID card is mandatory for all platforms, “if one day you end up on the Communist Party’s ‘blacklist’, the Party won’t need to spend money on building concentration camps or mobilizing the police to arrest people. They can simply sit in their office, click a few buttons, deactivate your digital identity, and strip away all your freedoms and social rights. Life would instantly plunge into darkness; you couldn’t work, shop, travel, or get medical care… Although you’re alive, in this digital age, you’re essentially dead.”
He described this precise persecution targeting individuals as “a digital Cultural Revolution.”
During the pandemic, due to his critical stance on containment policies such as health codes exacerbating social disasters like starvation and lack of medical care, Chen Endé raised concerns to the leadership at Tianque Technology, saying that it was “aiding the tyranny.” As a result, the company deemed his political views incorrect, kicked him out of the project team, marginalized him long-term, and ultimately fired him in July 2020.
Now in the United States, Chen Endé stated that during his time in China, he was afraid and dared not openly criticize the government, only posting some metaphorical comments online. However, after learning about incidents such as the Tiananmen Square massacre, the Cultural Revolution, and organ harvesting through circumventing the Great Firewall, he decided to no longer stay silent and will persist.
In recent years, mainland Chinese enterprises have massively entered Hong Kong, from bubble tea and chain restaurants to sportswear, electric cars, and gold suppliers. Mainland enterprises have infiltrated every nook and cranny of Hong Kong’s streets, swiftly altering the city’s business environment. Local businesses are facing severe pressure, losing their unique characteristics as Hong Kong’s economy increasingly shifts inland.
According to data from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, in 2024, the number of new mainland Chinese enterprises surpassed foreign-funded enterprises for the first time. There were 273 mainland enterprises entering Hong Kong, covering technology and financial service companies, family offices, travel companies, and consumer brands, while the number of foreign-funded enterprises was 266. In contrast, in 2022, there were only 92 mainland enterprises with stores in Hong Kong, less than half of the 208 foreign-funded enterprises.
The operational model of these mainland enterprises is also changing Hong Kong’s ecological environment – the phenomenon of low-cost rapid market entry, pressuring competitors, intensified.
Not only small shops but also major brands are experiencing the same impact. Chinese food delivery giant Meituan entered Hong Kong in 2023 through the overseas brand Keeta, quickly becoming a leading company in the Hong Kong food delivery industry with aggressive discount strategies that made it difficult for competitors to match. Deliveroo, a British platform that entered Hong Kong ten years ago, closed down in March 2025 and withdrew from Hong Kong.
The influx of mainland enterprises has altered the surface of Hong Kong, masking more profound political transformations behind the scenes. Since the enforcement of the so-called “National Security Law” by the Communist Party in 2020, this once proudly autonomous city has increasingly lost its freedom.
Especially after COVID, the vacancy rate in the Tsim Sha Tsui tourism district skyrocketed. Prior to May, retail sales had continuously decreased for 14 months. Due to the slowdown of the mainland economy, mainland customers Hong Kong relied on have reduced consumption and cut various expenses.
Gary Ng, a senior economist at French Foreign Trade Bank, remarked that the Hong Kong government is increasingly leaning towards Beijing on security and economic issues and lacks the drive to change course.
He pointed out that it is much easier for Hong Kong to attract mainland chain stores than foreign chain stores, and the presence of well-known Chinese brands can also help enhance the political performance of officials.
Ng cautioned that once mainland brands increasingly dominate, it may in turn erode Hong Kong’s unique position. He is concerned that Hong Kong’s distinct commercial characteristics differentiating it from the mainland may diminish.
【Epoch Focus】Production Team