When something disappears from the Internet in China, netizens joke that it has been “river-crabbed,” a play on the euphemism “harmonized.” The River Crab Archive is a collection of blog post titles, weibo, and other materials deleted from their original sources on Chinese websites, either found by CDT or brought to our attention by outside projects. The editors have selected river-crabbed information of note from CDT Chinese’s ongoing compendium of the same name (河蟹档案).
The following deleted weibo was selected by CDT Chinese editors from FreeWeibo.
19 suspects have been arrested after 21 people died in clashes between Han Chinese and Uyghurs last week in Kashgar, the far western city in Xinjiang Province. The Chinese authorities call the incident an “act of terror,” comparing the attack on police officers to the Boston bombing. But locals say the fighting began when a young Uyghur was shot during an illegal home search.
Police harassment continues. In the deleted weibo below, “Tamerlane Dawa’er Maiti” shares a photo of an officer in a Uyghur woman’s living room, pointing to neat stack of books on the floor. The woman looks at her sandals and holds one finger in her fist. “Tamerlane” explains the situation:
帖木儿达瓦尔买提: This isn’t shaming, this is terrorizing! She faces an unknown fear.
这不是羞愧，这是惊悚！她面对的将是未知的恐惧
April 30, 2013 at 8:28 a.m.
Unfortunately, none of the book titles are visible. They could be banned books. Then again, the officer could just be using them as a tool of fear.
Via CDT Chinese.
