Sina and Tencent Censor "Wukan" on Their Weibos

On December 21, 2011, the state sponsored Global Times published an editorial entitled “Wukan Hints at Urgency of Better Governance.” Some excerpts:

The village of Wukan in Guangdong Province is under the spotlight. Over the past months, villagers launched demonstrations against land exploitation and election-fixing by village heads. However, following village representative Xue Jinbo's death last week during police custody, peaceful protest turned into social unrest. The village is now cordoned off by police, as the authorities attempt to negotiate a deal.

These screenshots were taken on December 14, 2011, and show that Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo were censoring search results for “Wukan Village” (乌坎村).

Certain Provisions on the Administration of Micro-Blog Development

Beijing Municipal Government Information Office, Public Security Bureau, Communications Administration, and Internet Information Office jointly issued the "Certain Provisions on the Administration of Micro-Blog Development" on December 16, 2011. 

Certain Provisions on the Administration of Micro-Blog Development

Article 1. These provisions are enacted in order to regulate the development of micro-blog management, maintenance, network communication order, information security, protection of Internet information services unit and micro-blog user's legal rights, to meet the public demand for information on the Internet, to promote healthy and orderly development of the Internet, according to the "PRC Telecommunications Regulations," "Measures on the Administration of Internet Information Services," and other laws, regulations, rules, combined with the actual situation of the city.

Article 2. All websites launching micro-blog services and micro-blog users in the city's administrative area shall comply with these regulations.

Article 3. The development of management of this city's micro-blogs is conditioned upon the principles of active usage, scientific development, administration in accordance with the law, and ensuring security, in order to promote the building, utilization, and giving expression to a positive role for micro-blog services in the community.

Article 4. Websites that launch micro-blog services shall abide by the Constitution, laws, regulations, and rules, and operate in a sincere, honest, and civilized manner, actively spread the core values of the socialist system, disseminate socialist advanced culture, and build a socialist harmonious society.

Baidu, Sina, Tencent Search Results for "Xu Jinbo" - Man Who Died in Police Custody

On December 13, 2011, the state sponsored Global Times published an article entitled “Villager Detention Death Scrutinized.” Some excerpts:

A villager, who once led a demonstration in a village in Guangdong Province, died in detention on Sunday.

Some villagers suspect that he was beaten to death, but a local hospital said he died of cardiac arrest.

Xue Jinbo, 42, a villager from Wukan, Lufeng died two days after he was detained. The local government said Xue suddenly felt in pain and after emergency resuscitation failed was pronounced dead at Yihui Foundation Hospital in Shanwei on Saturday, according to Guangdong-based southcn.com.

In a timely fashion after Xue's death, leaders from the local government informed his family and comforted them. They also invited the local medical department as the third party to check the treatment process, the report said.

However, some villagers disagreed with the government's conclusions.

 "Xue was tortured to death," a 21-year-old villager, surnamed Zhang, from Wukan told the Global Times yesterday.

These screenshots were taken on December 14, 2011, and show that Baidu, Sina Weibo, and Tencent Weibo were censoring searches for “Xue Jingo” (薛锦波).

Police Station Attacked in Hotan, Examples of Sina Weibo and Search Engine Censorship

On July 18, 2011, the state sponsored People's Daily published an article entitled "Police Station in Hotan, Xinjiang Attacked, Several Attackers Shot Dead" (新疆和田派出所遭袭 数名袭击者被击毙). It published an English version of the article the following day entitled "Rioters Gunned Down, Hostages Rescued in Xinjiang Police Station Attack." Some excerpts:

Police gunned down several rioters who attacked a police station and killed four people in Hotan city of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Monday noon, sources with the Ministry of Public Security said.
Rioters broke into the police station shortly after 12 p.m.. They assaulted the police, took hostages and set fire to the station, according to the ministry.
A member of the armed police, a security personnel and two hostages were killed during the ordeal, the ministry said, adding that another security personnel was severely injured.

These screenshots were taken on July 18, and show that on that day searches on Sina Weibo for "Xinjiang" (新疆) and "Hotan" (和田) returned no results, just a censorship notice.

These screenshots were taken on July 21, and show that a search for "Xinjiang" is returning results, and in fact provides “Xinjiang Hotan” (新疆和田) as a suggested search term. But when a user clicks on that link (outlined in red), they are taken to a page with no results, just a censorship notice.

The Global Times subsequently published several articles regarding the July 18 incident in Hotan, Xinjiang:

• Yang Shu: Hotan Has a Little Incident, But Xinjiang's Sky is not Falling (杨恕：和田出点事，新疆的天塌不下来) http://opinion.huanqiu.com/roll/2011-07/1830424.html
• Sky Not Falling in Xinjiang After Hotan Attack http://www.globaltimes.cn/NEWS/tabid/99/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/666919/Sky-not-falling-in-Xinjiang-after-Hotan-attack.aspx
• Xinjiang Police Say the Surprise Attack in Hotan Was a Serious Terrorist Incident (新疆警方称和田袭击案属严重暴力恐怖事件) http://china.huanqiu.com/roll/2011-07/1835649.html
• Thugs' Surprise Attack Kills Innocents, Xinjiang Authorities Refute Foreign Rumors (暴徒搞突袭杀害无辜 新疆官员反驳境外谣言) http://china.huanqiu.com/roll/2011-07/1830512.html
• Investigation of Xinjiang Hotan Incident Finds 14 of 18 Thugs Killed at the Scene (新疆和田事件查明：18暴徒当场被毙14个) http://mil.huanqiu.com/china/2011-07/1833241.html
• Reporter Unmasks Foreign Rumors, Hotan Incident is a Terrorist Act and Not an Ethnic Conflict (本报记者拆穿境外谣言 和田事件系恐怖活动非民族冲突) http://world.huanqiu.com/roll/2011-07/1833330.html

The last article included the following statement:

On July 19, anti-terrorism expert Li Wei told the "Global Times," that this terrorist surprise attack in Hotan was a violent attack similar to the Mumbai surprise attack that took place several days ago, and the hostage taking, whether in terms of methods, tools, targets or form, were all consistent with a classic international terrorism incident. But the West ignores this, and conflates it with Han and Uighur ethnic contradictions, and panders to the "World Uygur Congress" version, and creates problems for China. So China faces a predicament that is similar to many non-Western countries when they trying to fight terrorism. 

中国反恐问题专家李伟19日告诉《环球时报》，这次发生在和田的恐怖袭击和前几天发生在孟买的袭击事件一样是暴力攻击、劫持人质，不论从手法、工具还是袭击目标、表现形式上，都和国际上典型的恐怖主义事件如出一辙。但是西方不顾这一事实，将此与汉维民族矛盾结合起来，迎合“世维会”的说法，给中国制造麻烦。这是像中国一样的很多非西方国家在反恐时面临的人为困境。

The Global Times’ website also put up a video entitled “Hu Xijin: Western Media Broadcasts On Behalf of the World Uyghur Congress, How China Handles It” (胡锡进：西媒替世维会传谣 中国怎应对) http://v.huanqiu.com/news/201107/20110721213034.shtml

The screenshot below was taken on July 22, and shows a search for the Chinese abbreviation for “World Uyghur Congress" (世维会) on the Sogou search engine returns no results, just a notice that says “The keywords you entered may relate to content that does not comply with relevant laws and regulations.” (您输入的关键词可能涉及不符合相关法律法规的内容。)

Baidu and Sina Weibo Censor "7.5" On Second Anniversary of July 5, 2009 Xinjiang Unrest

On July 4, 2011, the state sponsored Global Times published an article entitled "Getting Over It." Some excerpts:

Two years after deadly riots in Urumqi shocked the nation and the world, the capital of northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region appears to be a model of peace and stability, held together by increased security measures and improving living conditions.
. . . .
The increased number of armed police patrolling downtown streets seems to be one of the only reminders that there was an ugly episode of violence that took the lives of 197 people.
To help guarantee peace in the city, some 40,000 surveillance cameras have also been installed on buses, in schools, supermarkets and on the streets. 
. . . .
He Weifang, law professor at Peking University who worked at the Shihezi University in Xinjiang from 2009 to 2011, said the region is “over-emphasizing stability preservation.”
“It’s understandable that stability is very important for a complex place like Xinjiang. But if the government over-emphasizes stability preservation, it might misread some message and overact,” he was quoted by Phoenix TV as saying. “In this case, it might fuel tension between Han and Uyghur people,” he added.  Most of those who died in the 2009 riots were Han. 

This screenshot was taken on July 5, 2011, and show that a search on Baidu's Tieba () Postbar forum for "75" (七五) returned no results, just a notice saying "Apologies, in accordance with relevant laws, regulations, and policies, this forum cannot be opened at this time." (抱歉，根据相关法律法规和政策，本吧暂不开放。):

These screenshots were also taken on July 5, 2011, and show that searches on Sina Weibo for "7.5" and "75"(七五) returned no results, just a notice saying "In accordance with relevant laws, regulations, and policies, searches for '7.5/七五' have not been displayed" (根据相关法律法规和政策，“何培蓉”搜索结果未予显示).

On 90th Anniversary of Communist Party's Founding, Sina Weibo Censors "Communist Party"

July 1, 2011, was the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party.

The following screenshots show search results for Sina's Weibo micro-blogging service on that day.

Ok: Capitalism [资本主义]

Not Ok: Communism [共产主义]

Ok: Republican Party [国民党]
Not Ok: Communist Party [共产党]

Ok: Ma Yingjiu, Obama [奥巴马]
Not Ok: Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao [胡锦涛，温家宝]

Ok: Chiang Kaishek [蒋介石]
Not Ok: Mao Zedong [毛泽东]

Baidu Censors Diary of Du Daozheng - Former Head of China's Book Censorship Agency

In January 2010, the Hong Kong based Cosmos Book Company (天地圖書有限公司) published "Du Daozheng's Diary - What Else Did Zhao Ziyang Have to Say?" (杜導正日記 - 赵紫阳还说过什么?). Du Daozheng (杜导正) is the publisher of the magazine Yanhuang Chunqiu (炎黄春秋) and a former director of the General Administration of Press and Publication.

This screenshot was taken on January 5, 2011, and shows that search for "Du Daozheng Diary" (杜导正日记) on Baidu returns no results, just  a notice saying: "Search results may not comply with relevant laws, regulations, and policies, and have not been displayed." (搜索结果可能不符合相关法律法规和政策，未予显示。)