Fei Chang Dao

In the last week the Global Times (published by the Communist Party mouthpiece The People's Daily), published several English language articles discussing free speech with mainland Chinese characteristics: Hackers, Bloggers and Professors Team Up to Tap into Blocked Microblog Content  From the list of blocked keywords provided on the website, it is also clear when some words become sensitive and when such scrutiny is lifted. For instance, the name of Bo Xilai, former Party chief of Chongqing who was recently prosecuted on corruption charges, was banned from searches until July 25, the day the news of his prosecution was announced. . . . . China's regulation on Internet information lists nine types of banned content, most of which concerns national security, state unity, rumors, pornography and violence. But in practice it isn't always clear where the line is and in the event of a breaking incident, certain words or phrases that are otherwise normal might become sens

Huang Huahua (黄华华) was governor of Guangdong province from 2003 - 2011. These screenshots show that, while a Baidu search for "Huang Huahua" in late July, 2013 returned apparently uncensored results, a search for "Huang Huahua reported" (黄华华 举报) returned no results, just a censorship notice. Similarly, Baidu was also completely censoring search results for "Huang Huahua High Level Corruption" (黄华华 高层贪腐). These screenshots show that all of China's major search engines also returned no results for "Huang Huahua reported" (黄华华 举报), just a censorship notice. These screenshots show that Baidu had banned users from establishing PostBar (贴吧) forums on Huang Huahua, and a search for "Huang Huahua reported" (黄华华 举报) on Sina Weibo returned no results, just a censorship notice. This screenshot shows Yahoo.com search results for "Huang Huahua reported" (黄华华 举报).

On July 26, 2013, the Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily published a report from China's official news agency Xinhua entitled " Police Reveal Details of GSK China's Alleged Violations ." Some excerpts: The Chinese police on Thursday revealed details of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) China's alleged bribery and tax-related violations that pushed up drug prices and disrupted market order.  After the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) announced on July 11 that some employees from GSK China were being investigated for suspected bribery and tax-related violations, more individuals involved in the case, including salespeople and doctors, are now under investigation.  Xinhua has learned from police officers handling the case that they are suspected of offering bribes to doctors, asking them to prescribe more drugs in order to grow sales volume, and in the meantime pushing up drug prices. These screenshots show that at some time between July 22 and July 27 Ba

On July 22, 2013, China-based web portal 163.com published an article entitled "Hong Kong Media: Xinhua Reporter Exposes Minister Accepted Bribes and Drank Human Milk." ( 港媒：新华社记者曝正部级官员接受贿赂喝人奶 ) An excerpt: According to a report in the Ta Kung Pao, some officials are vicious beyond measure, and a Xinhua correspondent has published a post stating that several years ago a minister-level official participated in expensive parties thrown by wealthy businessmen at a time when he was still a deputy-minister. One of the dishes was the breast milk of a beautiful woman, and every guest was accompanied by a young, beautiful, naked girl.  据大公网报道，有官员荒淫无度，新华社对外部记者周方发博文称，一正部级官员几年前仍是副部级官员时，曾在北京高级会所参加富商组织的宴会，有一道菜是美女人奶，即每位食客旁都来了一位全裸的美艳少妇。 This screenshot shows that a search for the title of that article in quotes on Baidu on July 27 returned no results, just a censorship notice. These screenshots show why - shortly after the article was published, Baidu began restricting search resu

On July 20, 2013, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post published the following announcement in English and Chinese on its web site: On July 13th, 2013, reporter Liu Yi submitted an article for an interview with Jack Ma which was published by SCMPChinese.com. After a period of time and without authorisation, she accessed the system and replaced the editor-approved article with an altered version in which Mr Ma's reference made in relation to June 4th was removed. Given this alteration's departure from our interview recording, the original article was reinstated immediately following discovery of discrepancy. Liu Yi has since been suspended from work for making unauthorised alterations to company property. A full disciplinary enquiry was instigated. Liu Yi however chose to resign on July 19th, 2013, while the investigation is still ongoing. Notwithstanding, the South China Morning Post continues to stand by the original article. SCMP will continue with our in-house i

On July 25, 2013, the China's official news agency Xinhua published an article entitled " Bo Xilai Indicted for Bribery, Corruption and Power Abuse ." These screenshots show that on July 24, both Sina and Tencent were censoring searches for "Bo Xilai" (薄熙来) on their Weibo products, and that on July 25 both companies stopped censoring searches for that term. This screenshot shows that on July 25 Baidu was still prohibiting users from establishing a PostBar (貼吧 Tieba) forum about "Bo Xilai." See also: Gu Kailai Found Guilty of Murdering Neil Heywood - A Chronicle of Censorship of the Case - http://blog.feichangdao.com/2012/08/gu-kailai-found-guilty-of-murdering.html Wang Lijun Found Guilty - A Chronicle of Censorship of the Case - http://blog.feichangdao.com/2012/09/wang-lijun-found-guilty-chronicle-of.html

Xu Zhiyong (许志永), a Beijing lawyer described by the state-sponsored China Daily as someone who "has been providing legal help to the country's disadvantaged groups" was detained on July 16, 2013. First, Sina and Tencent began censoring searches for his name on their respective Weibos shortly thereafter. Then, Baidu deleted its Baidu Encyclopedia (百科 Baike) article on Xu . Now, these screenshots show that, just days after Xu was detained, Baidu and Youdao began censoring "Xu Zhiyong Criminally Detained" (许志永被刑事拘留 - interestingly, on Baidu it was still possible to retrieve results by putting a space between "Xu Zhiyong" and "Criminally Detained"). Sogou and Qihoo also joined in banning search results for the phrase. These screenshots show that Sina Weibo was censoring searches for "Number Three Police Station" (第三看守所) and Baidu, Qihoo, and Sogou were censoring searches for "Xu Zhiyong Number Three Police Station.&

As noted in a previous post , Xu Zhiyong (许志永), a Beijing lawyer described by the state-sponsored China Daily as someone who "has been providing legal help to the country's disadvantaged groups" was detained on July 16, 2013. Sina and Tencent began censoring searches for his name on their respective Weibos shortly thereafter. These screenshots show that on July 19, 2013 the top Baidu search result for "Xu Zhiyong" was Baidu's own Baidu Encyclopedia (百科 Baike) entry for Xu. The same search on July 20 shows that the top result for Xu is now Xu's Wikipedia entry and Baidu's Encyclopedia entry is not on the first page of results. The reason is that the Baidu Encyclopedia entry, originally available here - http://baike.baidu.com/view/1669218.htm - appears to be because it has been deleted. The screenshot below shows what users clicking on that URL saw on July 20 - a notice saying "Apologies, we are unable to display the article you wanted to

According to a document posted on Tencent Weibo (pictured below) on July 16, 2013, the Beijing Public Security Bureau issued a "detention notice" for Xu Zhiyong (许志永) on charges of "disturbing public order." (扰乱公共秩序) This screenshot was taken on July 17 and shows that Baidu had banned users from establishing PostBar (贴吧 Tieba) forums for "Xu Zhiyong."  These screenshots show that on July 18 both Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo began censoring searches for "Xu Zhiyong." This is neither the first time that Xu has been detained nor the first time that Chinese web sites have censored information about him. On August 19, 2009, the China Daily published a report entitled " Lawyer Arrested on Tax Evasion Charges ." Some excerpts: Xu Zhiyong, co-founder of Gongmeng, a legal assistance group, was taken from his home by security officers at dawn on July 29, according to a statement from Gongmeng.  Zhou Ze, Xu's lawyer, told China