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Wang Qing always tried to make sense of his problems, even though some of their answers would potentially leave a number of people feeling unhappy. For example, as a resident of Henan Province's Nanyang City, Wang Qing hoped that the government would be able to tell him the expenditure amounts used from public funds on food, drink, transportation, and overseas trips. 
 
He would wring his fingers, trying to explain his motive to each questioner who approached him: "I'm a taxpayer. You took my money away, and now I want to ask you where my money went."
    
In fact, Wang is just an insignificant figure in his city. He works at a computer company, answering customer service questions over the phone. However, every day when he rides his electric bicycle home, passing a dusty street with hanging signs that read "water tank repair specialist", "mutton stew," and "big boss tire repair" on store fronts, he would think about the fundamental issues of the city.
    
These issues include not knowing about the leaders of the city. The 27-year-old Wang believed that he needed to know these people's backgrounds and résumés. He tried inquiring in the past. That time, he arrived at a municipal office, pushed open the door, and saw a uniformed employee sitting inside.  
    
He then politely asked, "Leader, sir, which office should I go to so that I may apply for open government information?" But according to Wang's recollection, the man he asked muttered a curse word at him and then said, "There is no open information here."
    
Wang Qing was unsatisfied and began to speak about "Open Government Information Regulations" with the official. After hearing a few sentences from Wang, he cut him off. "You've read a lot of books, huh?" Immediately afterwards, Wang Qing was shown the door.
    
"I wasn't out to oppose them; I just wanted to win their support." Eight months after the fact, Wang Qing knit his eyebrows as he explained. We were in an old-style 6-storied residence, in the same quarters as an ethanol factory that carried a smell that stung.  Wang didn't dare open his window in summertime.
    
In this room, he put in order all the questions he had thought about, counting them. There were 7 in all. Since directly asking these questions had no result, he simply printed each one of them out and then stuffed them in an addressed envelope.
    
On December 30, 2008, when his sister Wang Ke saw him walking out with a pile of letters near 60 centimeters tall, she jokingly asked him, "Whoa, so many! Are you sending out love letters?"
    
But just a few days ago, Wang Ke suddenly saw photos of her younger brother on the Internet. The little brother she had thought was shy and conscientious had suddenly become the famous "thorn in side" of the city. Not long after he sent his letters – all the way up to the Nanyang City government, and all the way down to Wancheng District's vegetables office – 181 departments received the same application for information disclosure. In the application, Wang requested that the departments disclose information on 7 items, including "budgeted number of government employees, actual numbers of officials", and even "the objectives and implementation progress of current government work."
    
That was 7 months after the "Open Government Information Regulations of the People's Republic of China" became effective. Fifteen days after he sent the letters, of the 181 applications he sent, he only received 18 responses, most of which were vague in content.
    
As for the disclosure of the names of main leaders and members, most of their backgrounds and experience were classified under "private information." Some departments replied with only a signature, without the necessary departmental seal. The most confusing of all was the reply from Wolong District's Earth and Natural Resources office: it was a blank application form for open government information.
    
Furthermore, nearly all departments noted that information on "use of public funds for food, drink, transportation, and overseas trips" was "not within the scope of their respective units." As a result, Wang Qing noted, not a single one of the 18 replies left him feeling satisfied.
    
But in addition to this, Wang found himself in yet another predicament. He was told that in the past few days, there were often people around his building entrance asking "how many people [are in Wang's family]? What do they do?" Wang also began to get a flood of harassing telephone calls, with some asking him "Are you a spy? Why were you asking for that information?"
    
After receiving these threats, Wang Qing wrote to the city major, telling him of how he was being watched. Shortly thereafter, a man who called himself "a city official" gave him a call, telling Wang Qing that they knew of the situation and exhorted him to "get back in contact with us" if he received anymore harassment. 
    
This was not Wang's first setback. In 2006, not long after starting his first job with a monthly salary of only 450 Yuan, Wang Qing discovered that there was a charge of 100-200 Yuan in his phone bill every month. He believed that a portion was being unreasonably charged. As a result, starting from April of that month, he repeatedly made appeals to China Mobile.
    
Later, he and others who had received similar treatment met together. A total of 30 people came together and filed 67 cases against the telecommunications industry. "At first, I did this out of compulsion, but after, I felt that doing so was of great significance", Wang described.
    
But he quickly learned that realizing "significance" was not an easy task. The end result of the appeals was Wang Qing's verdict: "ruling rejected." The other appeals were left unsettled.
    
Wang Qing began to have some doubts towards even the judicial system. However, during the time he had been making his appeals, he discovered that the government had released some detailed rules and regulations benefiting consumers. This refreshed his hopes: "maybe if the court system doesn't work, going through the government will."
    
In August 2008, Wang found a construction field that looked suspicious. He went to the sales department and requested to see the land certificate, but was refused. He then turned to the Urban Planning Bureau to request information disclosure, and unsurprisingly, did not receive a reply. Following this, he sued the Planning Bureau, believing that it had violated the Open Government Information Regulations.
    
The Planning Bureau lost the case and released the requested information. The information proved that the "suspicious" building indeed had no permit. After two months, Wang cited the fact that the Bureau had not resolved its problem and again brought it to court for "nonfeasance." This time, the two parties were able to reconcile; a representative from the Urban Planning Bureau apologized to Wang in court.
    
However, to his surprise, when he submitted another information disclosure request to the Planning Bureau, there was still no response. He began to admit that he had not just come head to head with a few people, but had rather faced a strong culture of secrecy.
    
To fight this culture, Wang Qing encountered many difficulties. In April 2009, he again submitted a request for administrative reconsideration to the 116 departments that had previously not replied to him. After two months, he took the initiative to apply for an extended reconsideration. Many departments still paid him no attention.
    
In June, he began to bring lawsuits against these departments. His open "lure" was taken by the departments: "If you disclose your information, I will withdraw my lawsuit." Additionally, at times, he would turn the tables and threaten the departments he thought of as "deadbeats": "If you withhold information once more, I will bring another lawsuit against you."
    
While bringing a lawsuit costs 50 yuan, asking for an administrative reconsideration is free. Given this, Wang only carefully selected a few departments to file cases against. Wang's salary that month only amounted to 836 yuan. In order to prepare materials, he had already spent close to 3000 yuan. Sometimes printing one page would cost 1 yuan, so he spent over an hour researching the regulations and found out that application for administrative reconsideration does not require copies of his ID. This made him very happy because he "had just saved on 100 sheets of paper."
   
Following this, the applications he sent out a few months prior were slowly receiving replies. On July 13, he received his last reply. Among the over 100 resent requests, only 4 completely or partially provided information on expenditures of public funds.
    
Leaders' backgrounds – previously deemed "individual private information" – were disclosed. Wolong District Transportation Authority even sent a photo of its leadership. Additionally, the city's quality inspection agency gave not only a relatively detailed response, but also attached a report and transcript from its 2008 work conference.
    
One municipal department response included a handwritten note: "Wang Qing: In accordance with the spirit of the Open Government Information Regulations, your application for information disclosure requires a paid fee. At this time, however, we will not charge a fee." The Wolong District judicial department wrote at the beginning of its letter: "We think your legal consciousness is very strong ... at the needed time, we would like to hire you as a specially invited law promoter."
    
After receiving these replies, Wang Qing again got to work. He told the departments that had not publicized their expenditures that his re-requests had already cost him around 1000 yuan for information materials and postal fees. "If you don't disclose your figures, then you should shoulder my 20-30 yuan cost."
    
He first went to the Public Security Bureau, as he feared being suspected of racketeering and wanted to see "if [the police] would arrest me or not." But after a few days, 3 subdepartments sent 100 yuan to Wang Qing's unit, with a note: "We are leaving 100 yuan, hope you have no objections. We will soon send a reimbursement slip. Apologies from our workplace; please understand."
    
Afterwards, Wolong District's Food Department and Labor Department respectively sent 50 and 20 yuan. Wang carefully safeguarded the two receipts for collecting the money, "I won't claim the money; I'll keep these as mementos."
    
The collection of 200 yuan sparked a lot of gossip, with some thinking that Wang's behavior equated to blackmail.
    
Another voice of opposition came from local departments. Nanyang municipal government's vice secretary general of e-government services Hao Peng brought up these issues with this journalist: "A single person can request disclosure of the same information from a number of government agencies. Is this not a 'hole' in the Open Government Information Regulations?"
    
However, Wang Qing says that he won't think about those issues for the time being. He still hasn't received the answers he was looking for, and has begun to worry about his and his family's safety. Now when he receives calls from government departments, the voices are always menacing. These departments would find him later and say, "Have other units been using our name? Our office's conduct is always disciplined."
    
Every day after work, Wang Ke is exhausted, but she must always wait till the evening for the sound of her younger brother's return before she can finally sleep at ease.
    
And every evening is Wang Qing's most busy time. From April to October, from 5:30 AM to 12:30 AM, he packs his schedule because "in this half year, I need to finish studying economic law, labor law, criminal litigation, and modern Chinese history.'"
    
His bookshelf is filled with law books and introductory brochures like "A Judge Tells You How to Sue and Make Appeals." A few people who are new hands at rights protection have located Wang. Wang often gives off the impression of having a "bright future," telling them that "you will be successful eight out of ten times."
    
"Actually, in my mind, I know that they'll lose nine out of ten times," says Wang. But all he can do is give them a little confidence.

On August 7, the city's investigation group came to Wang Qing's unit. "Seven or eight people were sitting together, looking quite happy." They began to confirm which agencies replied to Wang and which ones didn't. In the end, they solemnly gave affirmation to Wang, as what he did "could after all raise the awareness of access to information in certain government departments."