Current affairs blogger Xiang Dongliang has had his Weibo account banned for reporting Hu Xijin, a nationalist blogger and retired editor-in-chief of the Global Times, for using a VPN to circumvent the Great Firewall of China...
In online slang, “rushing the tower” (冲塔 chōngtǎ) means posting politically sensitive commentary knowing full well that it will be censored, with potentially worse consequences ranging from account deletion to detention....
In a darkly ironic but all too familiar twist, WeChat censored an essay explaining that there is no law forbidding citizens to discuss politics. “When ‘Not Talking About ——–’ Becomes A Societal Norm,” ...
Halloween celebrations in Shanghai doubled as an outlet for mild political “gags,” spooking censors and delighting audiences online. Photographs of party-goers dressed as Winnie the Pooh, livestreamer Li Jiaqi, Lu Xun, “big...
The death of Li Keqiang has dominated discussion on the Chinese internet. Censors have tightly controlled all commentary on his death. One directive, published earlier today, instructed media outlets to “pay particular attention...
The following censorship instructions, issued by government authorities, have been leaked and distributed online. The name of the issuing body has been omitted to protect the source. (Compilation) Forwarding the City Propaganda...
A year after his protest against Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party atop Beijing’s Sitong Bridge, netizens continue to ask: where is Peng Lifa? On October 13, 2022, Peng hung two banners from Sitong Bridge that read: “We...
Censors took down a Zhihu question-and-answer that asked, “Why don’t young people watch Xinwen Lianbo anymore?” Xinwen Lianbo, China Central Television’s flagship evening news program since 1978, is among the most watched...
A hug between two Chinese athletes after the women’s 100m hurdles finals at the Hangzhou Asian Games has become the second Tiananmen Massacre-related censorship controversy of the Games. At the finals on October 1,...
A Weibo user who works as a computer programmer in Chengde, Hebei province, has reported that he was fined and had three years of income confiscated by the local public security bureau for using a virtual private network (VPN)...
In July, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the country’s powerful internet regulator, published a new law governing generative artificial intelligence products and mandating that they uphold core socialist values. A recent...
The sudden and unexplained closure of a number of WeChat accounts dedicated to gay, trans, asexual, and feminist issues marks the latest setback for LGBTQ+ and women’s speech rights in China. The mass account closures happened...
A Singapore paper’s publication of a blistering opinion piece criticizing Xi Jinping did not escape notice on Weibo, where netizens surreptitiously praised it. Titled “The Economy Is The Problem, Its Root Is Politics,” the...
With hundreds of documented (and censored) online sobriquets, Xi Jinping is arguably the most nicknamed leader in recent Chinese history. To stay ahead of the censors, online Chinese have long resorted to using homophones,...
The following censorship instructions, issued to the media by government authorities, have been leaked and distributed online. Carry out a comprehensive cleanup of all content related to the band “Slap” (delete...
Sometimes, it’s the censors who imbue a joke with political power. Earlier this week, Weibo user @怪以德服人猫’s account was deleted for violating Weibo policy. Their likely violation? A joke, described by some netizens as “very...
Catastrophic flooding caused by Typhoon Doksuri has killed at least 21 people, left approximately 26 people missing, and led to the evacuation of hundreds of thousands in northern China. Rainfall in Beijing broke a 140-year old...
China’s Ministry of Public Security has initiated a new campaign against online rumors following Xi Jinping’s call for a “security barrier” around the Chinese internet. At The South China Morning Post, Kawala Xie reported on the...
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