So it doesn't give you the idea that China is clamping down on software developers. Unless there is an on-going trend, this is an independent move by some administration out there.
Whether the post was deleted by himself or by a censor, the central government is complicit in banning VPN and this is more than an independent move by a local government (unless you think the local government has substantial influence on Hu Xijin or the censor).
In fact another Guangdong man was also fined in 2018 for using VPN [1]. All these are in addition to prosecution of sales of VPN [2][3]. What makes you think this is an independent move by a local government?
[0] https://tw.news.yahoo.com/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B%E7%A8%8B%E5%BC%...
[1] https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1003431
[2] https://www.zdnet.com/article/chinese-man-arrested-after-mak...
[3] https://www.dw.com/en/chinese-entrepreneur-sentenced-to-over...
One comment in the first article you linked said 99% of software engineers in china use github.
The CCP is 100% aware that people use vpn to access foreign websites.
And Washington is 100% aware that people do crack. That doesn’t mean we don’t have a systematic law enforcement effort to stamp it out. Just because Beijing isn’t squishing every last developer doesn’t mean China hasn’t fundamentally changed since Xi became dictator.
There is no way to implement complete censorship without killing your own tech industry.
They do.