The following examples of censorship instructions, issued to the media and/or Internet companies by various central (and sometimes local) government authorities, have been leaked and distributed online. Chinese journalists and bloggers often refer to those 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.
All websites with streaming video are to clean out “Nothing Feels Better Than a Young Lass’ Leg” (Hao mo bu guo shao fu tui)
August 24, 2010
The musical video “Nothing Feels Better Than a Young Lass’ Leg” has recently been discovered on the Internet. The lyrics are base and obscene, and the movements of the singers are clearly sexually suggestive and provocative. All websites, please delete the video.请各视频网站清理《好摸不过少妇腿》
近日发现网上流传视频《好摸不过少妇腿》，该视频歌词低俗淫秽，肢体动作带有明显性暗示、性挑逗。请各网删除。Follow the line of action of the Foreign Ministry in reporting the hostage event in the Philippines
August 24, 2010
The Central Propaganda Department News Bureau gives notice: On August 23, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry has issued a formal position on the kidnapping incident of Hong Kong tourists in the Philippines. All media outlets must follow the formally expressed line of action of the Foreign Ministry, and positively report on the particulars of all relevant parties actively working to rescue the hostages and effectively deal with the aftermath. Do not link this event to Sino-Filipino relations, and refrain from extreme statements.按外交部口径报道菲律宾人质事件
中宣部新闻局通知：8.23，外交部发言人已就香港游客在菲律宾遭劫持事件正式表态，各媒体要按照外交部表态口径，正面报道有关各方积极营救人质及做好相关善后工作的情况，不要将此事与中菲关系挂钩，避免出现过激言论。2010 Internet Media Outlet Convention in Inner Mongolia
August 23, 2010
All provincial-level Internet propaganda and Internet surveillance bureaus are invited to select reliable, skilled, and diligent employees to participate in the activity “2010 Internet Media Convention in Inner Mongolia.”2010网络媒体内蒙古行
请各地省级网宣网监部门和网站选派政治可靠、业务娴熟、能吃苦耐劳的人员参加“2010网络媒体内蒙古行”活动。Do not report the story “Student at Shandong Architectural University Leaps to Death”
August 23, 2010
A news management notice received from the provincial propaganda bureau: All media outlets are not to report on the incident of a student at Shandong Architectural University jumping off a building.不报道“山东建筑大学学生跳楼”
接省委宣传部新闻处通知：关于山东建筑大学一学生跳楼事件，各媒体暂不报道The bombing at Aksu, Xinjiang, and other orders
August 19, 2010
1) Other than reports from Xinhua and Xinjiang media, all other media outlets are not to report or repost stories on the bombing in Aksu. Even copy from Xinhua is not to be reposted.
2) All media outlets are not to send journalists to report on the August 20 trial in Wuxue, Hubei of Zhu Cainian for premeditated murder.新疆阿克苏爆炸等
1、对于新疆阿克苏爆炸，除新华社和新疆本地媒体报道外，其他媒体一律不报道、不转载，对新华社通稿也不转载。 2、湖北省武穴市朱才年等故意伤害案8月20日一审，各媒体一律不派记者采访报道。For the National Day of Mourning, media outlets in Xinjiang are not to publish advertisements for two consecutive days.
August 14, 2010
Xinjiang Propaganda Bureau informs all media outlets under its jurisdiction: The National Day of Mourning is changed to two days. On the 15th and 16th all print is to be in black and white, and publishing advertisements is not allowed.全国哀悼日新疆媒体连续2日禁登广告
新疆宣传部通知所属媒体：哀悼日变2天，15,16日都黑白，不许登广告。
Read more about the “Ministry of Truth” via CDT:
In China, several political bodies are in charge of Internet content control. At the highest level, there is the Central Propaganda Department, which ensures that media and cultural content follows the official line as mandated by the CCP. Then there is the State Council Information Office (SCIO), which has established “Internet Affairs Bureau” to oversee all Websites that publish news, including the official sites of news organizations as well as independent sites that post news content.
This “Internet Affairs Bureau,” sent out very specific instructions to all large news websites daily, and often multiple times per day. Those instructions do not always mean that related contents are completely banned online, but they instruct websites to highlight or suppress certain type of opinions or information in a very detailed manner.
Chinese journalists and bloggers often refer to those instructions, as well as other type of censorship orders to media and websites, as “Directives from the Ministry of Truth.” TheMinistry of Truth (or Minitrue, in Newspeak) is one of the four ministries that govern Oceania in George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. In the Chinese blogosphere, it is the online lingo for the Central Propaganda Department and generally speaking, all other subordinate propaganda agencies including Internet supervision departments.
Today, it’s been said that news does not break, it tweets. For the officials in the the Ministry of Truth, the news is that their supposedly confidential instructions get tweeted as well.
