The following censorship instructions, issued to the media by government authorities, have been leaked and distributed online. The name of the issuing body has been omitted to protect the source.
1) Regarding the “Shanghai Ctrip Daycare Abuse” incident, directives previously issued by relevant departments shall prevail, nothing else must be reported.
2) Regarding the national ping pong semi-finals at the German Open championship, all websites please cool this story down. Please send related requirements to chief editors and those in charge of sports sections:
- Do not link to link to Liu Guoliang’s job post adjustment;
- Increase related post supervision, clean up information harmful to leaders related to the General Administration of Sport;
- Do not recommend related content, do not make this a hot search or hot topic. (November 14, 2017) [Chinese]
Censorship authorities have issued repeated directives to manage online news and commentary on instances of child abuse at a Shanghai daycare center set up by travel service provider Ctrip for the use of their employees since last week.
Members of China’s national team failed to advance past the semi-finals at the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) German Open. This comes after controversy earlier this year over the title change of longtime national team coach Liu Guoliang, a topic that censors earlier ordered off limits. Ecns.cn reports, noting other recent setbacks for Chinese competitive table tennis players:
Chinese table tennis player Fan Zhendong lost narrowly at the men’s semi-finals to eventual champion Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany at the ITTF World Tour Platinum German Open in a setback for the sport in China.
Fan’s defeat on Sunday was a big blow as China is used to dominating the sport and had taken all four gold medals at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
[…] It was not the first frustrating tournament for the Chinese since Rio. During the World Cup in October, China’s Olympic champion Ma Long failed to reach the finals, securing third place only.
[…] The Chinese team’s setback at the German Open stirred debate on social media on Monday. […] [Source]
A report from Forbes late last month recalls protest from top Chinese players last June after Liu Guoliang’s demotion, and related financial penalties from the ITTF:
The world’s top three table tennis players — Ma Long, Xu Xin and Fan Zhendong — each ghosted their Round of 16 matches in the Seamaster 2017 held in Chengdu in June. They forfeited in protest, after their coach, Liu Guoliang was promoted to vice president. The move, considering that there are already 18 inactive vice presidents, seemed more like a retirement.
The International Table Tennis Federation today announced that each player will see a $20,000 fine for breaching ITTF rules stating “players must do their utmost to win a match and shall not withdraw except for reasons of illness or injury.”
[…] The team’s coach, Liu Guoliang, had been a grand slam champion who then coached the men’s team since 2003. All the while, Liu has been popular, which is not necessarily common for national team coaches inside China.
In a bout of restructuring, however, Liu changed from “chief coach” to “vice president.” The men’s and women’s team instead will be generally overseen by “coaching teams.” The transfer followed the suspension of the women’s team coach, Kong Linghui, after a scandal concerning his gambling debt. [Source]
