Li Ming died on January 2. He was 47. (Sohu)
The following censorship instructions, issued to the media by government authorities, have been leaked and distributed online.
State Council Information Office: All websites must immediately delete the Caixin article “Beijing Galloping Horse [Film Co. Ltd.] executive Li Ming Suddenly Leaves This World.” (January 5, 2014)
国信办：全网立即查删财新网的《小马奔腾董事长李明突然离世》一文。
Li Ming died of a heart attack on January 2, according to Chinese state media. His company Beijing Xinleimingdun Advertisement, part of the Galloping Horse Group, produced a number of programs for CCTV in the mid-1990s. This work acquainted Li Ming with Li Dongsheng, then vice president of CCTV.
Li Dongsheng was dismissed from his post as Vice Minister of Public Security on December 25 and is currently under investigation for disciplinary violations. Suspicion about Li Dongsheng’s connection to former security minister Zhou Yongkang, himself under a corruption probe, has lead to keyword blocking on Weibo.
The Caixin article originally connected Li Ming and Li Dongsheng’s investigations. The words “Li Ming is undergoing an auxiliary investigation [to Li Dongsheng]” were quickly removed from the article on official websites before the order to delete the piece entirely, reports Deutsche Welle [zh]. Hong Kong’s Apple Daily reports that Li Ming was agitated when he was taken by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, and that the sedative he was given caused his heart attack.
Chinese journalists and bloggers often refer to these instructions as “Directives from the Ministry of Truth.”
CDT has collected the selections we translate here from a variety of sources and has checked 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.
