Now that formal charges have been brought against Bo Xilai, Chinese netizens are speculating on the fate the former Chongqing Party boss. Many think Bo will be given a suspended death sentence, just like former Railway Minister Liu Zhijun on July 8, and that Bo could be released on medical parole after serving a few years.
Weibo comments on the charges against Bo tout the Party’s “determination to fight corruption”–Tea Leaf Nation found that about half of all comments on official weibo contained this phrase, likely the work of the Fifty Cent Party. Website administrators have been asked to delete any material posted in support of Bo.
As of July 25, the following search terms are blocked on Sina Weibo (not including the “search for user” function).
- Bo+Liu (Zhijun) (薄＋刘（志军）)
- Bo+(suspended) death [sentence] (薄＋死（缓）)
- Bo+medical parole (薄＋保外就医)
- Bo+Xi (薄＋习): retested
- Bo+(Zhou) Yongkang (薄＋（周）永康): Zhou, who retired from the Politburo Standing Committee after last year’s 18th Party Congress, is thought to have been Bo’s only supporter among top leadership.
- Bo Wang (薄王): Bo Xilai and Wang Lijun, Bo’s former police chief in Chongqing.
- Bo Hu (薄胡): Bo Xilai and Hu Jintao.
- Bo Wen (薄温): Bo Xilai and Wen Jiabao. Retested.
- Captain Bo (薄督): Retested.
- Five Chongqings (五个重庆): A five-point city development program advanced by Bo in 2007.
- Chongqing model (重庆模式): Chongqing’s political and social policies under Bo, which included a revival of red culture. Retested.
- internal Party struggle (党内斗争)
- support Bo (挺薄)
- Master Bo (薄公)
- think fondly of+Bo (怀念＋薄)
- support+Bo (拥护＋薄): 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.
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