As of April 28, the following search terms are blocked on Sina Weibo (not including the “search for user” function).
Rightists and Liberals
- Lin Zhao+rightist (林昭＋右派): Lin Zhao was executed on April 29, 1968 after spending years in prison for speaking out against the Chinese Communist Party. Ironically, she had been a devoted communist as a teenager and once referred to Mao Zedong as her “father,” before changing her views during the Anti-Rightist Movement.
- Lin Zhao+pay respects (林昭＋扫墓)
- 25th anniversary commemoration (25周年纪念): 2014 marks 25 years since the student protests in Tiananmen Square and other Chinese cities, which were brutally suppressed in June 1989.
Official Corruption
- Wang Xiaoling (王晓玲): Wang is the Secretary for Discipline Inspection of Guangzhou. Dai Yuqing, the former president of the Guangzhou Daily, has retracted his confession to accepting bribes, and now claims that Wang framed him.
- Hu Zhanfan+be investigated (胡占凡＋被查): Hu Zhanfan, the director of CCTV, is allegedly being investigated for graft.
- Hu Zhanfan+insider trading (胡占凡＋内幕交易)
- (Zhou) Yuangen (（周）元根): Zhou Yongkang’s given name.
- old tiger (老老虎): Zhou is a “tiger” Xi Jinping is apparently after in his anti-corruption campaign.
- old tiger (old老虎)
Absconding Soldier
- border+soldier (边境＋士兵): PLA soldier Chen Xin went missing last week during exercises on the China-Vietnam border.
- carry firearms+break ranks (持枪＋离队): Chen reportedly had a weapon on his person when he went missing.
Crackdown on Pornography
- pornography (色情): Sina has lost publication licenses and twice apologized for allowing lewd content on its websites.
- seduce (诱惑)
- woman+associate (女＋交): It is unclear what this character combination refers to, but it is probably related to the government’s ongoing sweep of online pornography. Jiāo 交 can mean many things, “have intercourse” among them.
Via CDT Chinese.
Browse all of CDT’s collected sensitive words.
All Chinese-language words are tested using simplified characters. The same terms in traditional characters occasionally return different results.
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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