Wu Changlong embraces his father. He was found innocent and released from prison after serving 12 years. (Wu Huaying)

As of May 19, the following search terms are blocked on Sina Weibo (not including the “search for user” function).

Intertwined Injustices in Fujian: On June 24, 2001, a bomb exploded at the Fuqing City Discipline Inspection Commission in Fujian Province, killing one person. Wu Changlong and Chen Keyun were charged with the bombing, although they have always claimed innocence. The Fuzhou Intermediate People’s Court found them and several others guilty in 2004. The case was appealed and went to the provincial courts. In December 2005, the Fuzhou Supreme People’s Court again found Chen and Wu guilty and gave them both suspended death sentences. Wu’s sister, Wu Yinghua, continued to advocate for her brother.

This month Mr. Wu was found not guilty and released from prison. VOA reports that a censorship directive has been issued to the press barring them from reporting on his case [zh].

In 2009, Ms. Wu began assisting Lin Xiuying to seek justice after Lin’s daughter, Yan Xiaoling, died the year before after being gang raped. The police claimed that Yan had instead died from an ectopic pregnancy; Lin suspected the local police were involved. Ms. Wu helped Lin, who is illiterate, to blog and post video testimony about her daughter’s case. Ms. Wu and two others were detained in July 2009 and prosecuted. Ms. Wu was released from prison a year later.

Human Rights in China and Deutsche Welle [zh] have more information on both cases.

• Fuqing Discipline Inspection Commission Bombing Incident (福清纪委爆炸案)
• Wu Changlong (吴昌龙)
• Wu Yinghua (吴英华)
• Lin Xiuying (林秀英)
• Chen Keyun (陈科云)

Other:

• Pantu (潘涂)

All Chinese-language words are tested using simplified characters. The same terms in traditional characters occasionally return different results.

Browse all of CDT’s collected sensitive words in this bilingual Google spreadsheet.

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.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: censorship, Chen Keyun, Fujian, Fuqing, Internet censorship, Lin Xiuying, Ministry of Truth, Pantu, rights defense, Sensitive Words Series, weibo, Wu Changlong, Wu Yinghua
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Lawyers “Surround and Watch” Black Jails: On May 13, 11 rights defense lawyers were detained and beaten for attempting to visit a black jail in Ziyang, Sichuan Province. Since then, the weibo accounts of several public intellectuals have been shuttered, including writer Murong Xuecun‘s.

• Ziyang black jail (资阳黑监狱)
• surround and watch+black jails (围观+黑监狱)
• rights defense lawyers (维权律师)

Other:
• Wang Bu (王补): The former Beijing Public Security Bureau Chief of Scientific Research, who passed away in 1997. On the “Wuxi Economy” TV program, Zhu Ling’s father recently disclosed that Mr. Wang gave his notes on Zhu Ling’s case to Zhu’s parents before his death.
• red bandits (赤匪)
• red bandits (红匪)
• gong bandits (Gong匪): Alternate writing of 共匪 gōng fēi, i.e. communist bandits (共产党匪).
• gongfei

All Chinese-language words are tested using simplified characters. The same terms in traditional characters occasionally return different results.

Browse all of CDT’s collected sensitive words in this bilingual Google spreadsheet.

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.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: black jails, censorship, Internet censorship, Ministry of Truth, rights defense, Sensitive Words Series, weibo, Zhu Ling
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Migrant Worker’s Death: 22-year-old Yuan Liya, who came to Beijing from Anhui Province, fell to her death on May 3 from the Jingwen Apparel shopping mall. While the Beijing police concluded that she committed suicide, hundreds protested on May 8 calling for a full account of her death. Many suspect she was sexually assaulted and thrown from the building where she worked. See also Sensitive Words updates from May 8 and May 9.

• Zhong Tao (钟涛): Head of Jingwen Apparel.
• Jing+wen (京+wen): Alternate writing of Jingwen (京温).
• Yuan Liya (袁莉亚): Alternate writing of Yuan Liya (袁利亚).

Two Weibo Accounts Suspended for “Intentionally Spreading Rumors”: Prominent law professor and activist He Bing (@何兵) can no longer post on Weibo after he reposted a weibo from “Xiaoshanjunzi” (@萧山君子) about the alleged 2009 murder of a Guizhou Province cadre by a young university graduate whose website was shut down [zh]. Xiaoshanjunzi’s account is currently inaccessible.
• He Bing (何兵)
• six-point statement (六点声明): He Bing responded to the suspension of his right to post on Weibo with a six-point statement [zh].

• seven don’t mentions* (七不讲): According to a directive leaked on Weibo, universities are being instructed not to allow lecturers to discuss “universal value, freedom of the press, a civil society, civic rights, historical mistakes committed by the Communist Party, elite cronyism, and an independent judiciary.”

* This post was edited to change the translation of 七不讲 to “seven don’t mentions.”

All Chinese-language words are tested using simplified characters. The same terms in traditional characters occasionally return different results.

Browse all of CDT’s collected sensitive words in this bilingual Google spreadsheet.

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.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Anhui, Beijing, censorship, Guizhou, Internet censorship, Ministry of Truth, Sensitive Words Series, weibo, Yuan Liya
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Artillery in Beijing, May 9. (Weibo)

• Anhui girl (安徽女子): Yuan Liya, a poor young woman from central Anhui Province, died on May 3 after falling from the fourth floor of the wholesale apparel mall in Beijing where she worked. While the police have called it a suicide, Yuan’s family and fellow Anhui migrants suspect mall security guards raped her, and that she either jumped to escape them or was thrown off the building by her assailants. Hundreds protested in Beijing yesterday to demand a thorough investigation of Yuan’s case, drawing riot police onto the streets and rarely-seen helicopters into the air.

Deng Xiaoping’s Only Grandson Becomes County Head: Deng Zhuodi has become head of Pingguo County in the southwestern province of Guangxi. Some netizens suspect the younger Deng is a U.S. citizen. A graduate of the Duke University School of Law, Deng was accused of sexually harassing a female colleague in 2011. South China Morning Post, however, says Deng resurfaced in Chinese public life in 2010. Challenges to his citizenship are equally unsubstantiated.

• Deng Zhuodi+U.S. (邓卓棣+美国)
• Deng Zhuodi+sexual harassment (邓卓棣+性骚扰)
• Deng Zhuodi+red third generation (邓卓棣+红三代)

All Chinese-language words are tested using simplified characters. The same terms in traditional characters occasionally return different results.

Browse all of CDT’s collected sensitive words in this bilingual Google spreadsheet.

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.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Anhui, Beijing, censorship, Deng Xiaoping, Deng Zhuodi, Guangxi, Internet censorship, Ministry of Truth, Sensitive Words Series, weibo, Yuan Liya
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Yuan Liya (center) “jumped” to her death on May 3. (Weibo)

Around 4 a.m. on May 3, young Anhui migrant Yuan Liya fell to her death from the fourth floor of the Jingwen Wholesale Market in Beijing, where she worked. The Beijing authorities insist that she committed suicide and have refused requests by Yuan’s boyfriend and family to make public the Jingwen closed-circuit video of her fall.

This morning, migrants from Yuan’s home town protested in central Beijing, triggering a massive police presence. Photos of riot police on the streets and police helicopters circling the protesters have circulated on Weibo. Footage of the demonstration is available, for now, on Tencent [zh]. Read more about Yuan’s case and the protest from CDT Chinese [zh].

• Jing+Wen (京+温): For Jingwen Wholesale Market.
• Yuan Liya (袁利亚)
• Dahongmen (大红门): Yuan’s family have brought their case to the Dahongmen Market police station.
• South Third Ring [Road] (南三环): Location of Jingwen.
• Muxiyuan (木樨园): Street blocked by police.
• helicopter (直升机)

Update: More images from the protest and screenshots of propaganda directives have been added to the photo gallery below.

All Chinese-language words are tested using simplified characters. The same terms in traditional characters occasionally return different results.

Browse all of CDT’s collected sensitive words in this bilingual Google spreadsheet.

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.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Anhui, Beijing, censorship, Internet censorship, migrant workers, Ministry of Truth, protests, Sensitive Words Series, weibo, Yuan Liya
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Shanghai resident’s are protesting a new lithium ion battery factory.

Factory Protest Planned for Saturday: Chengdu netizens have been calling for residents to “take a walk” on Jiuyan Bridge tomorrow to protest the start of operations at the new Pengzhou Petrochemicals factory. Weibo about Pengzhou Petrochemicals have been deleted and blocked, while the Chengdu government has publicly stated that it has arrested netizens who have “disseminated rumors of protest.” On May 4th, 2008, residents protested the construction of the same factory.

Today, Weibo user Song Shinan posted that the authorities are requiring secondary school and university students to attend class on Saturday to keep them from protesting. Song’s account has since been deleted. Coincidentally, state media have also been covering the State Council Information Office’s “focused attack on rumor-mongering Weibo VIPs.”

• May Fourth+take a walk (5月4日+散步)
• May Fourth+demonstrate (5月4日+示威)

Shanghaiers Protest Battery Factory: Residents of Shanghai’s Songjiang district are protesting the construction of a lithium ion battery plant by Shanghai Guoxuan Electronics Ltd., fearing the manufacturing process will contaminate the water.

• Guoxuan (国轩)
• battery factory (电池厂)

Netizens Sleuth Poisoning Case: In 1994, then Tsinghua University student Zhu Ling was poisoned with thallium, most likely by her politically connected roommate. The bright, ambitious young woman suffered severe neurological damage. She is now paralyzed, nearly blind, and intellectually impaired. Netizens recently “reopened” her unsolved case on Weibo. Offbeat China looks at the history of case and its significance as a test of China’s rule of law, while Fei Chang Dao has tracked online censorship of netizen inquiry and demand for justice.

• Zhu Ling (朱令)
• Sun Wei (孙维): Zhu’s former roommate at Tsinghua.
• thallium poisoning (铊中毒)
• Tsinghua+poisoning (清华+中毒)
• Tsinghua+poison (清华+投毒)
• thallium (铊)

All Chinese-language words are tested using simplified characters. The same terms in traditional characters occasionally return different results.

Browse all of CDT’s collected sensitive words in this bilingual Google spreadsheet.

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.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: censorship, Chengdu, Chengdu PX, environmental protests, Internet censorship, Ministry of Truth, Sensitive Words Series, Shanghai, Songjiang factory protest, Tsinghua University, weibo
Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

The “Nine Gentlemen”: Nine activists were arrested last week after demanding that public servants disclose their financial assets, including Zhao Changqing and human rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi. Another protester, Li Wei, is missing, as activist Hu Jia explains:

@hu_jia: Li Wei is missing. No official documentation of his arrest has been received, as opposed to the other nine. RT @tengbiao: Yuan Dong, Zhang Baocheng, Ma Xinli, Hou Xin, Zhao Changqing, Ding Jiaxi, Wang Yonghong, Sun Hanhui, Li Wei, and Qi Yueying. However you count it, there are 10. The last two must have been detained as criminals. Were others arrested for calling for financial disclosure? #ninegentlemenoffinancialdisclosure

李蔚失踪，没有接到刑事拘留的法律文书。而其他九位都有。RT@tengbiao 袁冬、张宝成、马新立、候欣、赵常青、丁家喜、王永红、孙含会、李蔚、齐月英。怎麼算都是10個啊。後兩位應該也確定是被刑事拘留了。不知道還有沒有其他因為呼籲財產公示被刑拘的？#财产公示九君子

— Hu Jia 胡佳 (@hu_jia) April 28, 2013

• financial disclosure+nine gentlemen (财产公示+九君子)
• Zhao Changqing (赵长青)
• Ding Jiaxi (丁家喜)

Yuan Dong, one of the “nine gentlemen” arrested after publicly calling on officials to disclose their financial assets. (@azurefoxlee)

“Terrorist” Attack in Xinjiang: 21 died last week in clashes between the police and ethnic Uyghurs in Kashgar, a prefecture-level town which borders Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. The Chinese authorities and have accused the U.S. of a double standard for refusing to call this a “terrorist act.”

• Selibuya (色力布亚): The town in Kashgar Prefecture where the officers were killed.
• World Uyghur Congress (世维会)

Other:

• 25th anniversary (25周年): It is unclear why this is blocked. Reader suggestions are welcome.

Additionally, the following search terms have been blocked as of April 27.

Chengdu Environmental Protest: Chengdu netizens have objected to the construction of a petrochemical plant planned for Pengzhou, a town within the city limits. A number of netizens have suggested demonstrating against the project on May 4th, Youth Day, on Jiuyan Bridge, the site of May 4, 2008 protests against a p-Xylene (PX) plant in Pengzhou. On Weibo, the Chengdu authorities announced that they had arrested those calling for the demonstration, which they condemned as “inciting illegal assembly.”

• Chengdu PX project (成都PX项目)
• May 4th+Jiuyan Bridge+take a walk (5月4日+九眼桥+散步)
• Pengzhou+PX (彭州+PX)
• Pengzhou+petrochemicals (彭州+石化): retested

Other:

• Real Estate Party (地产党): A reference to the property owned by Party officials, both at home and abroad.

All Chinese-language words are tested using simplified characters. The same terms in traditional characters occasionally return different results.

Browse all of CDT’s collected sensitive words in this bilingual Google spreadsheet.

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 posts (April 27 and April 29).

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: censorship, Chengdu, Chengdu PX, Ding Jiaxi, environmental protests, financial disclosure, Internet censorship, Ministry of Truth, protests, PX, Sensitive Words Series, Uyghurs, weibo, Xinjiang, Zhao Changqing
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Prime Minister Li Keqiang at the site of the Sichuan earthquake. (CCTV)

Sichuan Earthquake: At least 188 are dead and over 11,000 injured after Saturday morning’s 7.0-magnitude earthquake, which struck Lushan County in the mountainous southwestern province of Sichuan.

• Fan Jiyue (范继跃): Lushan County Party Secretary Fan Jiyue was seen inspecting the disaster zone with Prime Minister Li Keqiang [zh]. Savvy netizens, quick to catch signs of luxurious lifestyles in these photo opportunities, noticed Fan’s distinct watch tan, then dug up older photos of him wearing a watch on the same arm. Fan is likely hoping to avoid the ridicule which drove Watch Brother out of office last fall. Netizens are calling Fan the “clever county Party secretary” (机智的县委书记) and “Taking-off Watch Brother” (脱表哥).
• Lushan County Party Secretary (芦山县委书记)
• Li Keqiang+put on a show (李克强+作秀): Li Keqiang was photographed yesterday eating a simple breakfast in a tent near the epicenter of the earthquake [zh]. Bedraggled from a busy night, he repeatedly emphasized to reporters that saving lives is his “number-one” priority right now.” Former prime minister Wen Jiabao was notorious for acting like this to demonstrate his concern for victims of natural and man-made disasters earning him the nickname “movie star.”
• prime minister+movie star (总理+影帝)
• Three Gorges+Sichuan earthquake (三峡+四川地震): Many people believe the Three Gorges Dam is to blame for the severe earthquakes which struck Sichuan this weekend and in 2008. Geologist Yang Yang, quoted in the Financial Times, says that this is a possibility, but that it is too soon to tell.

Alternate Renderings of Xi Jinping (习近平 Xí Jìnpíng): All based on sound.
• West Gold-peace (西金平 Xī Jīnpíng)
• Western Jin Peace (西晋平 Xī Jìn Píng): The Western Jin Dynasty ruled from 265-420 CE.
• Fully-washed Peace (洗尽平 Xǐ Jìn Píng)
• Whistle-clean Peace (洗净平 Xǐjìng Píng)
• Wash into Bottle (洗进瓶 Xǐ Jìn Píng)
• Sikkim Bottle (锡金瓶 Xījīn Píng)

All Chinese-language words are tested using simplified characters. The same terms in traditional characters occasionally return different results.

Browse all of CDT’s collected sensitive words in this bilingual Google spreadsheet.

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.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2013 Sichuan earthquake, censorship, earthquakes, Fan Jiyue, Internet censorship, Li Keqiang, Ministry of Truth, natural disasters, Sensitive Words Series, Sichuan, Three Gorges Dam, weibo, Wen Jiabao
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A screenshot from Weibo of the taxi story on the website of the official China Daily.

Hong Kong Paper Takes Readers for a Ride: Ta Kung Pao, a Hong Kong newspaper backed by the Chinese Communist Party, reported yesterday that an unsuspecting Beijing cabby picked up to-be premier Xi Jinping on March 1. The driver, Guo Lixin, apparently did not recognize Xi until the two began to chat about air pollution on the way to the Daioyutai State Guesthouse. “You are the first one to ever recognize me,” the paper quoted Xi.

The official Xinhua News Agency picked up the story, as did many overseas media and tens of thousands of Weibo users, before the story was revealed to be a hoax. Ta Kung Pao has issued an apology.

Cabby Guo Lixin holding a note allegedly written for him by Xi Jinping. (Ta Kung Pao)

• Guo Lixin (郭立新)
• Diaoyutai (钓鱼台)
• dress as a commoner to conceal one’s identity (微服): As in “travel in disguise [to see how the commoners live]” (微服私访), “make a royal inspection in disguise” (微服出巡), etc.
• Xi+fake news (习+假新闻)
• Xi+hire (习+出租)
• Xi+hail a taxi (习+打的)
• Xi+hail a car (习+打车)
• Xi+Taxi Brother (习+的哥)
• Xi+secretary-general (习+总书记)
• xi+secretary-general (xi+总书记)
• secretary-general+hail a car (总书记+打车)
• secretary-general+hail a taxi (总书记+打的)
• may the wind fill your sails (一帆风顺): Ta Kung Pao reported that Guo asked Xi to write this classic idiom for him as a souvenir of their meeting. The paper ran a photo of Guo showing off Xi’s gift.

All Chinese-language words are tested using simplified characters. The same terms in traditional characters occasionally return different results.

Browse all of CDT’s collected sensitive words in this bilingual Google spreadsheet.

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.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: censorship, Internet censorship, Ministry of Truth, Sensitive Words Series, Ta Kung Pao, weibo, Xi Jinping
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Hu Yaobang remembered. (Jiao Yantian via China Media Project)

As of April 16, the following search terms are blocked on Sina Weibo (not including the “search for user” function).

24th Anniversary of Hu Yaobang’s Death: Former Chinese Communist Party chief died suddenly on April 15, 1989, two years after he was removed from office and purged for supporting student protesters. Public mourning for Hu in 1989 morphed into pro-democracy protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square and in other cities. Hu was rehabilitated in 2005, but the remembrances which appeared in mainland media yesterday are unusual. South China Morning Post reports that this signals to some Xi Jinping’s seriousness about reform, though it could have as much to do with Hu’s alliance with Xi Zhongxun, Xi’s father.
• Yaobang (耀邦)
• Secretary-General Hu (胡总书记)
• 24th anniversary (24周年)
• Hu Zhao (胡赵): Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang. Zhao succeeded Hu as Party chief, but was also purged for his support of the Tiananmen protests. Zhao spent the last 15 years of his life under house arrest.
• reformist (改革派)

Other:
• Saintly Slaves (圣奴隶): The title of an April 10 blog post [zh] by the popular blogger Li Chengpeng in which he lambasts “fifty cents” for sycophantically defending China whenever Li makes a criticism of domestic issues such as food safety or violent chengguan. A translated excerpt:

…Our conversation goes like this: I say gas is too expensive, you say it’s it’s worse in Sweden. I say they don’t collect highway tolls in Sweden, you say they do in Japan. I say wages are high in Japan, you say they aren’t in Russia. I say Russia has universal health care, you say India doesn’t. I say India doesn’t have forced demolitions, you say bombs go off in Iraq. I say Iraq has freedom, you say North Korea is far more miserable. I say North Korea has cheap rental housing, you say they still live in caves in Afghanistan. I say Afghans have the vote. You say, “Open your trap again, and I’ll crush you to death!”

…你该是看过这个神帖：我说油费太高，你说瑞典更高。我说瑞典公路不收费，你说日本收费。我说日本工资高，你说俄国也不高。我说俄国全民医保，你说印度没医保。我说印度没强拆，你说伊拉克还挨炸。我说伊拉克有自由，你说朝鲜更惨。我说朝鲜有廉租房，你说阿富汗还住山洞。我说阿富汗人有选票，你说你再说我碾死你！

• New York Times+baby (纽约时报+宝宝): David Barboza of the New York Times has won a Pulitzer Prize for his exposé on former premier Wen Jiabao’s family wealth. “Baby” (宝宝 bǎobao) is a sarcastic nickname for Wen which plays on his first name (家宝 Jiābǎo).

All Chinese-language words are tested using simplified characters. The same terms in traditional characters occasionally return different results.

Browse all of CDT’s collected sensitive words in this bilingual Google spreadsheet.

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.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: censorship, hu yaobang, Internet censorship, Li Chengpeng, Ministry of Truth, Sensitive Words Series, weibo, Zhao Ziyang
Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

“Who gave you the right to speak? Rumor-monger!” (Wu Junyong/吴俊勇)

The April 11th edition of the magazine Red Flag Papers (红旗文稿) carried an article by Ren Xianliang, executive vice-director of the Shaanxi Province Propaganda Department, titled “Coordinate Two Spaces for Public Opinion, Concentrate the Positive Energy of Society” (统筹两个舆论场 凝聚社会正能量). Ren writes:

Some influential [figures] control public opinion online, fabricating rumors about the government, maliciously blackening the image of the Party and the government, and tearing down the foundation of the Party’s rule. Furthermore, some people use the Internet to create “individual media.” Their speech and behavior is “unrestrained” and “defies both heaven and law,” and their influence is on par with a journal or a news service. For example, certain individuals fly the flag of fighting corruption and call themselves “journalists” without holding press cards; these individuals register foreign websites and then “sell exports at home,” using sensationalist tactics to blackmail and kidnap local governments. There are even those who call the chaos of the Internet an “online cultural revolution.”

…We ought to control new media according to regulation and occupy the new battlefield for public opinion. The Internet is absolutely not outside the law. It must be managed according to the law. Even under management, there will be influential media, famous websites and bloggers, and Weibo VIPs who will dare to confront us. Warn those who must be warned, silence those who must be silenced, shut down those who must be shut down.

The Internet, and Weibo in particular, has proven to be a powerful tool for exposing corrupt officials at the local level. Bureaucrats have lost their jobs after netizen campaigns to show their extravagance and corruption; many now live in what a 2010 People’s Daily survey called “Internet terror.”

The article is no longer available online, but CDT Chinese has reposted a report on the article and netizen response [zh].

As of April 13, the following search terms are blocked on Sina Weibo (not including the “search for user” function).

• Ren Xianliang (任贤良)
• close those which must be closed (该关就关)
• individual media+defy both heaven and law (个人媒体+无法无天)
• coordinate two spaces for public opinion (统筹两个舆论场)
• Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee Propaganda Department (陕西省委宣传部)
• Shaanxi Propaganda Department (陕西宣传部)

All Chinese-language words are tested using simplified characters. The same terms in traditional characters occasionally return different results.

Browse all of CDT’s collected sensitive words in this bilingual Google spreadsheet.

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.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: censorship, Internet censorship, Ministry of Truth, Ren Xianliang, Sensitive Words Series, weibo
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• Masanjia Women’s Labor Re-education Camp (马三家女子劳教所): An investigative report on the camp, which exposes torture of inmates, appears in the April issue of the mainland magazine Lens. According to a leaked propaganda directive translated by CDT, the media are under instruction not to report on the article.

• SARS ten years ago+bird flu ten years later (十年前非典+十年后禽流感): The beginning of a short piece circulating online comparing the official response to SARS in 2003 and the H7N9 bird flu now, translated below:

SARS ten years ago, bird flu ten years later. The Pearl River Delta ten years ago, the Yangtze River Delta ten years later. Delayed action ten years ago, delayed action ten years later. False reports ten years ago, false reports ten years later. Banlangen ten years ago, banlangen ten years later. Experts blathering ten years ago, experts blathering yet again ten years later. We saw all of this ten years ago. Nothing has changed, nothing at all has changed. We have come full circle and ended were we began. We donkeys are so stupid it’s tragic. Only the virus has made a change.

十年前非典，十年后禽流感。十年前珠三角，十年后长三角。十年前拖延，十年后仍然拖延。十年前瞒报，十年后继续瞒报。十年前板蓝根，十年后还是板蓝根。十年前专家胡扯，十年后专家又在胡扯。十年一切照旧，没有改变，没有任何改变。转了一圈，回到原点，我们象驴，笨到哀伤，只有病毒在用心改变。

Alternate Renderings of “Chairman” (主席 zhǔxí):

• bamboo mat (竹席 zhúxí)
• pig Xi (猪习 zhū Xí): The second character is Xi Jinping’s surname.
• pig mat (猪席 zhū xí)
• lord Xi (主习 zhǔ Xí)
• zhu mat (zhu席 zhu xí)

All Chinese-language words are tested using simplified characters. The same terms in traditional characters occasionally return different results.

Browse all of CDT’s collected sensitive words in this bilingual Google spreadsheet.

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.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: bird flu, censorship, H7N9, Internet censorship, Masanjia, Ministry of Truth, SARS, Sensitive Words Series, weibo, Xi Jinping
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Frequently updated with high-resolution photos of the president and other officials, Chinese netizens suspect Xi Jinping’s Facebook page is a government project.

• Xi+facebook (习+facebook): Xi Jinping’s Facebook page looks suspiciously professional to discerning Chinese netizens. Could it be an official account? Over 16,000 users “like” his page, while the new president “likes” Li Keqiang, the People’s Liberation Army, and “Chinese Military Power.”
• Xi+facebook (习+脸谱)
• Chairman xi (xi主席)

• one party holds power (一党执政)
• Domestic Security Department (国保)
• martial law (戒严)

• Toady (蛤蛤): A pejorative nickname for Jiang Zemin.
• Toad thread (蛤丝)
• Chairman Toad (蛤主席)

• general election (普选): Retested.

All Chinese-language words are tested using simplified characters. The same terms in traditional characters occasionally return different results.

Browse all of CDT’s collected sensitive words in this bilingual Google spreadsheet.

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.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: censorship, Facebook, Internet censorship, Jiang Zemin, Ministry of Truth, Sensitive Words Series, weibo, Xi Jinping
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Kunming PX Plant: A p-Xylene (PX) and purified terephthalic acid (PTA) processing plant is planned for the Anning Industrial Park [zh]. Anning County is located within Kunming Prefecture, Yunnan Province. Plans to build PX plants have been thwarted by concerned citizens throughout China over the past few years, notably in 2007 in Wuxi and last fall in Ningbo.

Clockwise from top right: Mao Zedong, Hu Jintao, Deng Xiaoping, and Jiang Zemin. (artist unknown)

• Anning+PX (安宁+PX)
• Kunming+PX (昆明+PX)
• boycott PX (抵制PX)

Xi Jinping:
• boss Xi (习boss)
• Xi+Peng (习+彭): Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan
• Xi+first lady (习+国母)
• Xi+fake (习+假): We are unsure why this is blocked. Reader tips welcome.
• Xi+king (习+王): As in “Crown Prince Xi” (习王储), etc.
• Xi+Jiang (习+江): Xi Jinping and Jiang Zemin
• Xi+Li (习+李): Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang
• Xi+chief (习+总)

Other:
• hu+wen: Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao.
• nine presidents (九总统): Refers to the nine members of the outgoing Politburo Standing Committee (PSC); the number of PSC members has been reduced to seven.

In addition, the terms below have been blocked from Sina Weibo search results as of March 22:

• Huangpu River+dead pigs (黄浦江+死猪): Over 15,000 pig carcasses have been fished out of the Huangpu, the source of more than 20% of Shanghai’s water.
• Peng Liyuan+similar items (彭丽媛+同款): Netizens chatted eagerly about the overcoat Peng wore on her first trip as first lady. “Similar terms” is a search term on the shopping site Taobao; sellers listed her coat, complete with photos of her on the tarmac in Moscow [zh].
• first lady+similar items (第一夫人+同款)
• Auntie Peng (彭阿姨)
• Mrs. Xi (习夫人): retested
• Xi+old (习+老): As in Elder Brother Xi (习老大) Boss Xi (习老板), etc.
• Jiang faction (江派): Party leaders with allegiance to Jiang Zemin, such as Xi.

All Chinese-language words are tested using simplified characters. The same terms in traditional characters occasionally return different results.

Browse all of CDT’s collected sensitive words in this bilingual Google spreadsheet.

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 posts (March 24 and March 22).

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Anning, censorship, Hu Jintao, Internet censorship, Jiang Zemin, Kunming, Kunming PX, Li Keqiang, Ministry of Truth, Peng Liyuan, PX, Sensitive Words Series, weibo, Wen Jiabao, Xi Jinping, Yunnan
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Leadership Transition:

• Tao-Bao (涛宝): Playing on the name of the online shopping site Taobao, this is a term of endearment for Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao. See the “prime minister and chairman edit” of Fish Leong‘s “Sadly, It’s Not You” below.
• Chief Xi (席总): 席 Xí sounds the same as 习 Xí, as in Xi Jinping.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Chengdu Construction Woes: Chengdu Party Secretary Huang Xinchu has undertaken major construction in the city, snarling traffic, stirring up dust, and irking residents.
• Digger Huang (黄挖挖): A nickname for Huang Xinchu. Coincidentally, “Digger Huang” (黄挖挖 Huáng Wāwā) sounds similar to “Baby Huang” (黄娃娃 Huáng Wáwa).
• Huang WW (黄WW)
• Huang Xinchu + end class (黄新初+下课): Netizens are complaining about Huang; some hope he will “leave the classroom” and step down from his post.
• Pengzhou + petrochemical industry (彭州+石化): An oil refinery project is already complete in nearby Pengzhou.

All Chinese-language words are tested using simplified characters. The same terms in traditional characters occasionally return different results.

Browse all of CDT’s collected sensitive words in this bilingual Google spreadsheet.

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.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: censorship, Chengdu, Chengdu PX, Hu Jintao, Huang Xinchu, Internet censorship, leadership transition, Ministry of Truth, Sensitive Words Series, taobao, weibo, Wen Jiabao, Xi Jinping
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