As of May 27, the following search terms are blocked on Weibo (not including the “search for user” function).
Tiananmen: More keywords blocked in relation to the approaching anniversary of June 4th. See also the May 22 Sensitive Words post.
- 25年: 25 years
- 25years: 25years
- 二十五年: twenty-five years
- 五月三十五: May Thirty-five
- 广场: square
- 悼念: mourn
- 春夏之交: when spring becomes summer
- 这一天: this day
- Jonathan Mirsky+网站: Jonathan Mirsky+website – Mirsky recently reflected on his experience of the 1989 protests in the New York Review of Books.
- 红色恐怖: Red Terror
- 青年节: Youth Day – Student protests in Beijing on May 4, 1919 marked the beginning of the liberal May Fourth Movement. Youth Day is an official holiday commemorating the event.
Violence in Xinjiang: Beijing has promised a “yearlong campaign against terrorism” after explosions in an Urumqi market last week and a train station last month, as well as an earlier stabbing at a Kunming train station. The suspects in these incidents are Uyghur, the titular nationality of Xinjiang.
- 公园北街+乌市: North Gongyuan Street – Location of the Urumqi market attack.
- 伊斯兰+恐怖: Islam+terror
Tension with Vietnam: Netizens have reported that PLA solider were seen in towns near the border with Vietnam, following anti-Chinese protests in Vietnam.
- 解放军+中越边境集结: PLA+mass at China-Vietnam border
Anti-pornography Campaign: The web video company QVOD had its license revoked and was fined for allegedly hosting pornography.
- 支持+快播: support+QVOD
Also Blocked:
- 共产党+腐败: Communist Party+corrupt
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.
Have a sensitive word tip? Submit it to CDT through this form: