Xi Zhongxun, a communist revolutionary, a political leader, and the father of current president Xi Jinping, was born on October 15, 1913. As his 100th birthday approaches (the elder Xi died in 2002), conferences, art exhibitions, and celebrations in his honor are already underway. A senior official under Mao Zedong and vice premier in the late 80s and early 90s, Xi Zhongxun spent decades in and out of jail and was a supporter of the student protests in 1989.
Sina Weibo is blocking searches for the names of many of Xi Zhongxun’s family members.
As of October 11, the following search terms are blocked on Sina Weibo (not including the “search for user” function).
- Xi+family (习＋家族)
- Xi Zhongxun+son (习仲勋＋儿子)
- Grudges, Gratitude, and Xi Zhongxun (高层恩怨与习仲勋): Book about Xi Zhongxun published by Mingjing Press in New York. The book, whose subtitle is “From the Northwest to Beijing” (从西北到北京), is banned in China.
- Xi+Mingjing Press (习＋明镜出版社)
- Xi Mingze (习明泽): Xi Jinping’s daughter. Retested.
- Diao Minze (刁明泽): Netizens often use the character 刁 diāo in place of the similar-looking 习 xí.
Xi Zhongxun’s children from his first marriage to Hao Mingzhu:
- Xi Zhengning (习正宁): Eldest son.
- Xi Fuping (习富平): Name used by Xi Zhengning.
- Xi Heping (习和平): Eldest daughter.
- Xi Ganping (习干平): Younger daughter.
Xi Zhongxun’s children from his second marriage to Qi Xin:
- Qi Qiaoqiao (齐桥桥): Eldest daughter. Retested.
- Xi Qiaoqiao (习桥桥): Reference to Qi Qiaoqiao used by netizens to evade censors.
- Qi An’an (齐安安): Second daughter. Retested.
- Xi An’an (习安安): Alternate rendering of Qi An’an to evade censors.
- Xi Yuanping (习远平): Son.
- Diao Yuanping (刁远平): Alternate rendering to evade censors.
- Xi Mingzheng (习明正): Xi Yuanping’s son.
- Zhang Yannan (张燕南): Xi Zhongxun’s granddaughter. Retested.
Via CDT Chinese.
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 on our 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.
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