The New Normal: Sina Weibo has changed the way it blocks sensitive keywords; terms that were once just partially blocked now return zero search results. Read about the “upgrade” from Jason Ng of Blocked on Weibo.
Kim Jong-Un applauds Beijing. (Rebel Pepper)
As of November 9, the following search terms are blocked on Sina Weibo (not including the “search for user” function):
No Fresh Air: The window cranks have been removed and child locks set in taxis throughout Beijing as a measure against protest during the Party Congress. See Taxi “Zero Spread” Rule for 18th Party Congress.
– seal off a car window (封闭车窗)
– taxi + window (出租车+窗)
– bus + window (公交车+窗)
– taxi + fill out a form (出租车+填表): Netizens report that taxi passengers must fill out a form in order to get to Chang’an Avenue, the thoroughfare passing Tiananmen Square.
– taxi + Chang’an Avenue (出租车+长安街)
– area of political importance (政治中心区)
Sparta By Any Other Name: These terms are all plays on words of “18 Big” (十八大 Shíbā dà), the acronym for the 18th Party Congress. See more nicknames here.
– stone eight big (石八大)
– stone bar big (石巴大)
Note: All Chinese-language words are tested using simplified characters. The same terms in traditional characters occasionally return different results.
CDT Chinese runs a project that crowd-sources filtered keywords on Sina Weibo search. CDT independently tests the keywords before posting them, but some searches later become accessible again. We welcome readers to contribute to this project so that we can include the most up-to-date information. To add words, check out the form at the bottom of CDT Chinese’s latest sensitive words post.
