The following censorship instructions, issued to the media by government authorities, have been leaked and distributed online.
State Council Information Office: 1. All websites must root out and delete Xu Zhiyong’s attack on our country’s legal system and related speech in support of Xu. Delete and block this type of content coming from overseas sites. 2. Please delete Xu’s essay “Open Letter to Mr. Xi Jinping–A Citizen’s Reflection on the Fate of the Country” (许志永致习近平的公开信-一个公民对国家命运) and related information. (January 28, 2014)
国信办:1,全网查删许志永案中攻击我国司法制度、支持许志永的有关言论,坚决删除封堵境外网站此类信息。2,请各地删除许志永《致习近平先生的公开信——一位公民对国家命运的思考》一文以及相关信息。
Chinese journalists and bloggers often refer to these as “Directives from the Ministry of Truth.”
CDT collects these directives from a variety of sources and checks them against official Chinese media reports to confirm their implementation.
Since directives are sometimes communicated orally to journalists and editors, who then leak them online, the wording published here may not be exact. The original publication date on CDT Chinese is noted after the directives; the date given may indicate when the directive was leaked, rather than when it was issued. CDT does its utmost to verify dates and wording, but also takes precautions to protect the source.