Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Tiananmen Watch: Sina Weibo Relaxes Censorship of Discussion of Hu Yaobang, Baidu PostBar Doesn't

On April 16, 2014, the state-sponsored Global Times published an English language article entitled “Reform Follows Hu Yaobang’s Vision: Experts.” Some excerpts:
The direction of China's current reform is consistent with the notion of late Party chief Hu Yaobang, said political analysts on the 25th anniversary of the death of the reformist leader, which fell Tuesday.

Hu was elected as general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee in February 1980, and he resigned in 1987. He died on April 15, 1989 at the age of 74.
. . . .
There was no memorial held at central government-level this year. But officials in Liuyang, Hunan Province, Hu's hometown, visited the late leader's former residence last week in a bid to learn from Hu's "man of the people" work style, the Liuyang Daily reported.

In a low profile visit, Hu Jintao, former general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, went to the residence on Friday, reported the Hong Kong-based Wen Wei Po paper. He reportedly stayed an hour at the residence and bowed to a bronze statue of the late leader.
The Liuyang Daily article the Global Times referred to is presumably the April 11, 2014, front page article entitled "Taking Yaobang as a Mirror to Seek Out the Problem of the 'Four Winds'" (以耀邦为明镜查找“四风”问题). Some excerpts:
Yesterday, municipal Party Secretary Cao Lijun, Deputy Secretary and Mayor Yu Xunwei escorted leader from the Party, municipal legislature, municipal government, and municipal Political Consultative Conference to the former residence of Comrade Hu Yaobang to launch a Party educational group study session entitled "Being Effective and Honest for the People," and received active instruction in mass line education.
昨日,市委书记曹立军,市委副书记、市长余勋伟带领市委、市人大、市政府、市政协四大家领导来到胡耀邦同志故居开展“为民务实清廉”党性教育集中学习活动,接受群众路线教育的生动教学。
The article, originally available here - http://dzb.lyrb.com.cn/shtml/lyrb/20140411/136018.shtml - has been deleted.
Screenshots showing cached copied of Liuyang Daily article about officials
visit to Hu Yaobang's ancestral home (left), and what users see today (right)
 The Wen Wei Po article referred to by the Global Times was reposted by some PRC-based media outlets on April 14, 2014, including Sina, which published the article under the title “Hong Kong Media: Hu Jintao Visits Ancestral Home of Hu Yaobang and Bows to His Statue” (港媒:胡锦涛访胡耀邦故居向其铜像鞠躬). Some excerpts:
According to Hong Kong media, on the advent of the 25th anniversary of the death of Hu Yaobang, last Friday morning, former Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Hu Jintao went to Hu Yaobang's ancestral home in Zhonghe County, Liuyang, Hunan.  He stayed for about an hour, and during that time he bowed in tribute to a statue of Hu Yaobang.
据本港媒体新报报道,在已故中共领导人胡耀邦逝世25周年前夕,前中共中央总书记胡锦涛上周五早上前往湖南浏阳中和镇胡耀邦故居,逗留一小时,期间向胡耀邦铜像鞠躬致敬。
The article, originally available here - http://news.sina.com.cn/c/p/2014-04-14/085229928182.shtml - has been deleted.
Screenshots showing cached copied of Sina article about Hu Jintao's
visit to Hu Yaobang's ancestral home (left), and what users see today (right)
These screenshots show that, unlike 2013, this year Sina Weibo is not censoring searches for “Hu Yaobang.”

These screenshots show that Baidu, however, continues to ban users from establishing a PostBar (Tieba  贴吧) forum about Hu Yaobang.

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