The following censorship instructions, issued to the media by government authorities, have been leaked and distributed online. Chinese journalists and bloggers often refer to these instructions as “Directives from the Ministry of Truth.”
State Council Information Office: For the next 48 hours, all media websites must prominently display the Xinhua editorial “Upheaval Would Leave China Only More Tragic than the Soviet Union” on their twin homepages. These are important instructions from a key comrade in central leadership. All websites must strictly comply. (August 1, 2013)
国新办：各媒体在网站双首页显著位置，转发新华网《中国若动荡，只会比苏联更惨》一文，并保留48小时。这是中央主要领导同志作出的重要指示。各地各网站必须严格落实。
The editorial, written by Wang Xiaoshi, casts post-Soviet Russia as a model of chaos and despair that China must avoid. “Twin homepages” probably refers to the website homepage and the editorials page.
CDT has collected the selections we translate here from a variety of sources and has checked them against official Chinese media reports to confirm their implementation.
Since directives are sometimes communicated orally to journalists and editors, who then leak them online, the wording published here may not be exact. The original publication date on CDT Chinese is noted after the directives; the date given may indicate when the directive was leaked, rather than when it was issued. CDT does its utmost to verify dates and wording, but also takes precautions to protect the source.
