English
A British Columbia journalist has won $275,000 in defamation damages after enduring months of coordinated harassment outside his Surrey home. Gao Bing Chen, a pro-democracy commentator and critic of China’s government, suffered the campaign at the hands of followers of exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui. A B.C. Supreme Court ruling last week found that defendant Yun Fei Zhu made false and damaging statements about Gao during livestreamed protests that drew up to 100,000 viewers worldwide.
Months of Harassment at His Front Door
The protests began on September 15, 2020, and continued for 77 consecutive days. Groups of up to 60 people gathered outside Gao’s home on a cul-de-sac in Surrey, rain or shine, for 11 weeks. Zhu, a White Rock resident, livestreamed the demonstrations for five hours each day.
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Protesters distributed pamphlets to Gao and his neighbours. The pamphlets falsely described him as a traitor and a Chinese government agent. They also played funeral music outside his home, distressing his wife, young daughter and mother-in-law. Protesters repeatedly approached his wife and urged her to file for divorce, telling her she should not have married a Communist spy. Two protesters assaulted a friend of Gao’s outside the home and later received assault convictions.
“This is likely the first case in Canada where protesters managed to move cyberbullying directly from the internet to my doorstep,” Gao said in a Mandarin-language interview on Monday. “If I were not tough enough, I might have lost my mind already.”
The Movement Behind the Campaign
The harassment stemmed from Gao’s public criticism of Guo Wengui. Guo, a convicted fraudster living in exile, co-founded a project called the New Federal State of China with Steve Bannon, former adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump. The movement presented itself as a political effort to overthrow the Chinese Communist Party. It maintained a presence in both Vancouver and Toronto.
However, Justice Richard Hewson’s ruling noted that critics regarded Guo and the New Federal State of China as “unreliable, conspiratorial and cult-like.” Gao himself was a well-known pro-democracy voice in the Chinese Canadian community. Trouble began when he publicly challenged Guo’s movement and its credibility.
During the livestreamed protests, Zhu and others called Gao a spy “whose hands were covered in the blood of democracy activists.” Justice Hewson stated plainly: “There is no evidence to suggest any of that is true.”
Court Finds Severe and Lasting Harm
Justice Hewson awarded Gao $250,000 in general damages and a further $25,000 in aggravated damages. The ruling found that Gao suffered “severe distress” as a direct result of the defamatory statements. At one point, he considered moving his entire family out of Canada.
The court found that Gao’s standing in the Chinese Canadian community had been destroyed. “He is no longer able to participate in the community in the ways and to nearly the extent that he had in the past,” the ruling states. “He deserves to have his reputation vindicated.”
Zhu, described in the ruling as a freelance handyman and goldsmith who runs a YouTube channel, “does not appear to be a man of means.” The court acknowledged that paying the award would cause him considerable financial hardship. Nevertheless, the ruling held that the scale of harm to Gao justified the damages.
The ruling also noted that Zhu admitted to making similar statements about Gao as recently as 2024 and 2025. When protests resumed in 2023, Gao briefly left Canada, hoping his family would be left alone. Zhu could not immediately be reached for comment.
Guo Sentenced to 30 Years in the United States
Meanwhile, Guo Wengui faced justice of his own. In July, a U.S. court sentenced him to 30 years in prison for fraud. Judge Analisa Torres of the Southern District of New York said Guo “preyed on those seeking to bring democracy to China,” taking their money to fund a lavish lifestyle. Torres added that Guo had called on supporters “to harass and intimidate those who dare to speak out against him.”
For Gao, the defamation ruling brought both tears and relief. “Justice might be delayed, but it will never come too late,” he said. Still, he acknowledged that the court’s decision cannot undo the damage done to him, his family and their neighbours. “I am hoping to move on, but it’s hard,” he said. “The fear and trauma lingers.”
