As of December 25, the following search terms are blocked on Sina Weibo (not including the “search for user” function).
Zhou Yongkang Dragnet: Li Dongsheng was removed from his post in the Ministry of Public Security and placed under investigation yesterday. Mr. Li formerly worked closely with Zhou Yongkang–even serving as Zhou’s matchmaker, according to Duowei News–leading to speculation that Li’s dismissal is directly connected to the current corruption investigation Zhou is undergoing.
- Li Dongsheng+Tang Can (李东生＋汤灿): PLA singer Tang Can is rumored to have slept with Li Dongsheng, among other officials. In 2012, Tang was alleged to have received a 15-year prison sentence for espionage and corruption.
- Li Dongsheng+Zhou (李东生＋周)
- Li Dongsheng+zhou (李东生＋zhou)
- Li Dongsheng+ZK (李东生＋ZK): “ZK” is taken from the Zhou Yongkang’s first and last names.
- Cao Jianming+investigation (曹建明＋调查): Cao Jianming, the Procurator-General of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, is also alleged to be under investigation for his ties to Zhou.
Law Professor Resigns: Chen Hongguo announced his resignation from Northwest University of Politics and Law in an open letter [zh] posted to his blog on Monday. His full name (谌洪果) is now blocked from Weibo search results.
Chen says his immediate reason for leaving is that he was stopped at the airport by university staff discouraging him from participating in a conference in Hong Kong earlier this month. The school publicly criticized him when he returned. Chen’s travel permit to Hong Kong and Macau has also been revoked.
The constitutional law professor also says his everyday work at the university has been stymied. “Please trust that I am not resigning in order to escape or cower, but only because I am afraid of losing all of the dignity, baselines, and principles which I hold dear,” Chen writes.
His resignation comes on the heels of the dismissal of two outspoken and prominent professors: Xia Yeliang of Peking University and Liu Xinquan of East China University of Political Science and Law.
Xi Jinping Nicknames:
- Xi+Some-ping (习＋某平): Mǒu 某 (“some” or “a certain”) is used in place of part or all of an actual name when the speaker does not know or does not want to say the real name of the referent.
- Xi+Pingping (习＋平平): Repeating the second syllable of someone’s first name is a cute, familiar way to refer to someone.
- Xi+relatives (习＋亲属)
Foreign Press:
- United Daily News (联合报): Taiwanese news outlet.
- United Daily News Net (联合新闻网): UDN’s website [zh].
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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