As of June 9, the following search terms are blocked on Sina Weibo (not including the “search for user” function).
“Reach victory in the People’s war against Apple and Steve Jobs.”
First Lady’s iPhone: Peng Liyuan, the wife of President Xi Jinping, was spotted in Mexico last week taking a photo of Mayan ruins with her iPhone. A photo of Peng and her phone went viral on Weibo earlier this week. This March, a CCTV program criticized Apple for charging certain maintenance fees in China that it did not elsewhere. Despite a Weibo gaff that exposed pro-government forces behind the Apple-bashing, and ensuing netizen disgruntlement with CCTV, Apple CEO Tim Cook wrote a formal apology to its Chinese users and promised a change in policy.
• Peng+cell phone (彭+手机)
• Peng+take a photo (彭+拍照)
• Peng+apple (彭+苹果)
• Peng+iPhone (彭+iphone)
• first lady+cell phone (第一夫人+手机)
• first lady+apple (第一夫人+苹果)
• first lady+iPhone (第一夫人+iphone)
• first lady+ cell phone (国母+手机)
• first lady+apple (国母+苹果)
• first lady+iPhone (国母+iphone)
• Mrs. Xi+cell phone (习夫人+手机)
• Mrs. Xi+take a photo (习夫人+拍照)
• Mrs. Xi+apple (习夫人+苹果)
• Mrs. Xi+iPhone (习夫人+iphone)
• peng+liyuan
Other: Current situation of the ideological sphere (当前意识形态领域情况): News and discussion of an internal Party document titled “Circular on the Current Situation of the Ideological Sphere” (关于当前意识形态领域情况的通报) has been heavily censored since early May. Fei Chang Dao has tracked online censorship of the document, while China Copyright and Media has gleaned information on its contents.
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 in this 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. To add words, check out the form at the bottom of CDT Chinese’s latest sensitive words post.
Have a sensitive word tip? Submit it to CDT through this form:
