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).
Qingming, or Tomb-Sweeping Day, is being observed as a national holiday in China April 4-6 this year. The festival is a time to tend graves and welcome the spring. Relatives of the deceased will sweep tombstones and perhaps burn paper money and goods to send to the afterlife. FreeWeibo captured two weibo, now deleted, with special Qingming messages.
@独自捡破烂的人: [candle][candle]
[蜡烛][蜡烛]
Internet Dispatch: On April 1, 2013, before the Qingming Festival, a group of 1989 democracy movement participents and folk intellectuals gathered in Zhengding County, Hebei Province, holding a solemn ceremony to publicly memorize the victims of June 4th, 1989. They stood in respect at the Deming Hall of Zhengding County Funeral Parlor in Hebei Province, paying silent tribute to the deceased; and gave a speech, reciting the names of the victims… This is the very first time in China, over the past 24 years, that the people have held a public ceremony to remember the victims of June 4th.
网 讯，2013年4月1日，清明节前夕，一群89民运的参加者和民间知识分子，汇集河北省正定县，以庄重仪式，公祭了1989年“64”死难者。他们在河北 省正定县殡仪馆铭德堂，向“64”死难者肃立、默哀、宣读公祭词，呼唤死难者的名字……这是24年来，在中国大地，第一次，民间以公祭的形式，追 思“64”死难者。
April 3, 2013 at 12:54 p.m.
@老子叹曰: A taxi driver said, “Tomorrow, you must tell your children, in case we don’t live to see the day… after our country achieves democracy and constitutional government, at the first light of Qingming, don’t forget to burn a ballot to send me in heaven.”
一个出租车司机说：明天一定要告诉您的孩子，假如我们等不到、、、等国家民主宪政后的第一个阳光明媚的清明节，不要忘了给老子烧张选票。
April 3, 2013 at 9:02 p.m.
Via CDT Chinese. Translation by Mengyu Dong.
