As of May 28, the following search terms are blocked on Sina Weibo (not including the “search for user” function).
Does Wang Qishan Want Them Home?: Chinese media reported earlier on Tuesday [zh] that Central Discipline and Inspection Commission Secretary Wang Qishan was going to require that the children of cadres at the ministerial level or above return to China within a year after they have finished their studies abroad. The story has since been refuted in English-language Chinese press and deleted elsewhere [zh].
• high officials+children studying abroad (高官+留学子女)
• children of high officials+return home (高官子女+回国)
Li Jianguo: A corruption investigation on then-Politburo member Li Jianguo began late this January.
• Li Jianguo+investigation (李建国+调查)
Anniversary of Tiananmen Massacre: Keywords are blocked liberally every year as the anniversary of the crackdown on protesters in and around Tiananmen Square approaches. CDT reported six related blocked keywords on May 25. Dozens were blocked last year.
• twenty-fourth anniversary (二十四周年)
• Victoria Park+evening event (维园+晚会): A candlelight vigil is held in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park every year.
• Szeto Wah (司徒华)
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.
