A Chronology of Actor Sun Haiying's Ban From China's Social Media

Actor Sun Haiying's Weibo shortly before it was shuttered.

December 14, 2014,  Red Flag Manuscript published an article by Li Yanyan (李艳艳 - whom it
identified as "with the Humanities division of Beijing Union University" - 北京联合大学) entitled "Some Tendencies That Must Be Addressed In Order to Safeguard Weibo's Ideological Security" ( 维护微博意识形态安全必须纠正的几种倾向). Some excerpts:

1. Guard Against Deception by Western Ideology Bundled Within "Universal Values" on Weibo
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Analysis of data on public sentiment research shows that some Big V's on Weibo lack an appreciation of the importance of the threat represented by the infiltration of the ideology of Western developed countries. Some even rely on foreign forces, blindly echoing them, and publicly insult leaders of the Chinese Communist Party and the Socialist system on their Weibo, repeatedly throwing up provocative topics to attack the government and incite social antagonism.

A certain famous economist who had over 2,000,000 followers not only greatly admires Western "liberalism," but even publicly declared that Communism was "a dead end."

Another famous actor with over 2,600,000 followers expressed doubts about whether "without the Communist Party there would be no new China," which is basic common sense, and publicly declared "without anyone there would still be a China."
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There are many struggles over Weibo ideology debates that implicate certain basic and fundamental questions of right and wrong. On March 28, 2014, the Weibo post of a certain famous economist was viewed over 4,000,000 times, and the statement in the Weibo that "A century ago Communism swept the globe, and how many young people had their blood spilled for it. But a century of practice has shown that this road is a dead end" received 15,000 reposts with various appraisals.

On September 4, 2014, a famous property magnate with over 20,000,000 followers made a Weibo post where he directly attacked Marxism for "brainwashing" the masses.
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Ideological and political work represents the future and destiny of the Party and the State. However, today there continues to be a flood of speech on Weibo attacking and denigrating the Party's leaders and the Socialist system. Some websites have failed to implement effective oversight. For example, Sina Weibo's reporting system includes seven items: "Spam, Obscenity, False Information, Sensitive Information, Plagiarism, Harassment, Fraudulent Contests," but it does not have an item relating to politics.
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Agencies responsible for propaganda and ideology especially need to strengthen their contacts with Weibo Big Vs, and do a good job of educating and guiding them, and as far as possible rally them around the Party and the government.
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The privatization of Weibo operating platforms may represent a significant threat to the ideology security of the State. According to statistics from April 2014, the shareholding structure of Sina Weibo, with 129,000,000 active registered users, was 59,8 held by Sina's special shares held by private companies and foreign investors, and 32% held by Alibaba, which has foreign shareholders. It has already listed on the US NASDAQ. The developments in the Weibo platform are a warning to us, that we must vigorously develop state-owned Weibo operating enterprises, and thereby enable the Party's ideology propaganda work to derive power from the developement of our Weibo platform.

1、防止微博中被所谓“普世价值”包装的西方意识形态所蒙蔽
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舆情检索和分析的数据表明，一些微博大V显然没有对西方发达国家的意识形态渗透引起重视和警惕，更有甚者挟洋自重、盲目附和，在其微博中公开污辱中国共产党的领导和社会主义制度，频频设置挑衅性议题向政府发难，挑动社会对立情绪。某拥有逾200万“粉丝”的知名经济学者，不仅十分艳羡西方的“自由主义”，甚至在微博上公开宣称共产主义“此路不通”。另一拥有260多万“粉丝”的某著名演员，在微博上质疑“没有共产党就没有新中国”的基本共识，公开声称“没谁都有中国”。
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在微博意识形态论争较量中，有很多是涉及原则性、根本性的大是大非问题。2014年3月28日，一条某知名经济学家的微博获得了超过400万人次的阅读量，博文中“百年前共产主义风靡全球，多少热血青年为此抛头颅洒热血。可是经过百年的实践，证明此路不通”的内容引发了近1.5万条褒贬不一的转评。2014年9月4日，一位拥有2000多万“粉丝”的知名地产商人发布微博，直接抨击马克思“洗脑”大众。
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思想政治工作关系着党和国家的前途命运。然而，微博上一些攻击、诋毁党的领导和社会主义制度的言论至今仍在泛滥，一些网站也没有有效监管。例如，新浪微博的举报制度包括“垃圾营销、淫秽色情、不实信息、敏感信息、抄袭内容、骚扰我、虚假中奖”七个条目，但没有一条是涉及政治性的条目。
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宣传思想工作部门还要特别加强与微博大V的联系，做好他们的教育引导工作，最大限度地把他们团结凝聚在党和政府的周围。
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微博运营平台的私有化，可能存在着威胁国家意识形态安全的巨大风险。据2014年4月的统计数据，在拥有1.29亿月活跃注册用户数量的新浪微博股权结构中，民企和外资背景的新浪公司持股占比59.8%，外资控股的阿里巴巴公司占比32%，而且已经在美国纳斯达克挂牌上市。微博平台的这种发展趋势警示我们，必须大力发展国有控股的微博运营企业，从而使党的思想宣传工作能够借力我们的微博平台来开展。

December 16, 2014, the Global Times published an editorial entitled “Public Opinion Divisions Reflected in Party Media.” Some excerpts:

In one of its recent articles, Hongqi Wen'gao, or Red Flag Manuscript, a political periodical, singled out for criticism some big Vs, which refers to verified Weibo users who have more than 500,000 followers. It poured scorn on "a renowned economist," "a famous actor," and "a real estate tycoon who has over 20 million followers," accusing them of slandering the Party's leadership. The article stirred up public opinion, and it was inferred by some Net users that the anonymous targets of criticism by the journal are respectively Mao Yushi, Sun Haiying and Ren Zhiqiang.

As Hongqi Wen'gao is affiliated to the Communist Party-run magazine Qiushi, it is therefore defined as State media. Some have spoken out, saying that the journal's censure of the three "anti-Party" figures indicates a re-occurrence of the Cultural Revolution (1966-76).
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Hongqi Wen'gao has more freedom of the press than traditional Party-run periodicals. Its rebukes toward anti-Party figures carry a different meaning from those made by Party-run newspapers or magazines. The Hongqi Wen'gao article illuminates views held by some Party members; however, it shouldn't be equated to an official statement from the Party.
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The three targets of criticism by Hongqi Wen'gao indeed advocated opinions that are contradictory to the Party and the country's political roadmap, which earned them fame and benefits. They gained popularity among certain groups, including Western forces.

But at the same time, they faced some uncertainties. For instance, they risk being criticized by media outlets such as Hongqi Wen'gao. In such circumstances, they have nothing to complain about. They have influence in the sphere of public opinion, so they could refute Hongqi Wen'gao and its supporters, defend themselves or feel proud of being crowned "anti-Party."

December 26, 2014, the Global Times published an editorial by "Wang Xiaoshi" (王小石 - the Global Times did not provide any background on the author) entitled "America Hopes to Topple China, and Sun Haiying is Their Third Kind of Weapon" (美国欲扳倒中国 孙海英属第三种武器). Some excerpts:

There are currently three main kinds of weapons deployed in America's ideological war for hearts and minds to "topple China." the first kind is the universal values (which are fundamentally American values) which prior to 2013 were trumpeted throughout the two public opinion venues of the traditional media and the Internet. But the corrupt monarchy of Saudi Arabia was an ally of America, and the double standards exemplified by proclaiming "human rights is more important than sovereignty" to support color revolutions, while violently suppressing the Occupy Wall Street movement show that universal values is a joke, and the Chinese people saw through it.

The second kind of weapon was the constitutional concepts stirred up during the 2013 Southern Weekend's New Year Message incident, which hoped to use reverence for the Constitution to promote American-style separation of powers, judicial independence, civilian control over the military, and multi-Party democracy. In fact this went against China's current Constitution, as certain people have previously clearly described.
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The third kind of weapon is a bit harder to spot, it is using the guise of Christianity to spread American political concepts and values.
. . . .
Most of the overseas anti-China forces are already Christianized, and attempt to dilute their political characteristics, for example Chai Ling and Yu Jie, or the most model example - Yuan Zhiming,  a drafter of "River Eulagy," the generation of late-80's students in exile abroad.
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There are various famous Big Vs, whether on Weibo or in the real world, who have hundreds of thousands of followers and who have close interactions with Yuan Zhiming, and Sun Haiying is one of these. It would appear that Sun Haiying's faith in Christianity formally stared in July 2011, when Sun Haiying, who according to Baidu's Encyclopedia is a Communist Party member, began continuously publishing a large number of posts on Weibo about "What I Learned After I Belived." Even though the Communist Party rules state that, as a Party member, Sun Haiying must be an atheist and is not permitted to to hold religious beliefs, this did not prevent Sun from repeatedly and continuously eulogizing on the holy and gracious "lord: on Weibo.

What is even more shocking is that, as Sun Haiying's faith deepend, the more his Weibo posts included content that blackened and  vilified the Chinese Communist Party, Mao Zedong, and even wrote off China's history and culture. For example: 1. "No matter what kind of major events China's rulers faced, they just had to deploy one kind of extreme means to direct the thought and work of the people -  - the net of class struggle." (2014.12.18)
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These various types are a warning that this new age national security environment faces a grem challenge. NGOs with foreign backgrounds operating in the guise of Christianity have already launched an ideological war for hearts and minds in the name of religious freedom. They are brazenly struggling against state authority for the people's hearts in the grassroots of society and the public opinion venues.

美国“扳倒中国”的意识形态心战，目前看主要亮出了三种武器。第一种武器是2013年前在传统媒体和互联网两个舆论场大肆鼓吹普世价值，本质是美国价值观。但腐败君主制的沙特竟是美国盟友，以及对外宣称“人权高于主权”扶持颜色革命对华尔街运动却暴力压制等双重标准曝光，普世价值成了笑话，中国民众看个透彻。第二种武器是2013年南周新年贺词事件热炒的宪政概念，就是想借宪法的名头推销美国的三权分立、司法独立、军队国家化和多党制。
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第三种武器则稍显隐蔽一些，是披着基督教的外衣传播扩散美国的政治理念和价值观。
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境外的反华势力多数都已基督化，试图洗弱身上的政治色彩，如柴玲、余杰等，最为典型的是《河殇》的撰稿人之一的远志明，八十年代末学潮后流亡海外。
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微博上个别拥有几百万关注者的名人大V无论在微博上还是现实中都与远志明互动密切，演员孙海英便是其中之一。自2011年7月开始，百度百科资料显示中共党员身份的孙海英突兀地连续发表多条“信主以后才知道”微博，似是正式公开了其信仰基督教的事实。尽管中共党章规定孙海英作为党员必须是无神论者不准许信教，但这并未能阻止孙在微博持续不断地歌颂“主”的神圣与恩德。

更让人震惊的是，伴随着孙海英信教的深入，他的微博上越来越多抹黑、诋毁中国共产党、毛泽东甚至抹杀中国历史文明的内容。例如：1.“我国的执政者无论遇到何等大的事，只要用一种极端的方法来指导人的思想和工作就行了——以阶级斗争为纲。”(2014.12.18)
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如此种种，警示我们新时期国家安全环境面临着极为严峻的挑战。披着基督教外衣的境外背景NGO已经在宗教信仰自由的名号下发起了意识形态心战，在社会基层以及舆论场上跟国家政权明目张胆地争夺民心。

September 17, 2015, the Global Times published an editorial by its editor-in-chief Hu Xijin (胡锡进 - writing under the name Shan Renping (单仁平)) entitled "Those Who Curse the Mainstream Shouldn't Hope to Act the Mainstream, What's the Point" (骂主旋律者非要演主旋律，何必). Some excerpts:

Based on information published online on the 11th, CCTV has dropped the war film "8848" starring Sun Haiying, leading to some heated discussions. Sun Haiying took to his own Weibo to express his strong dissatisfaction, while many Internet users expressed their support for CCTV's actions.

According to reports, "8848" is an inspirational movie that realistically portrays the military, and tells the story of the growth of special forces stationed in Tibet.
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For several years Sun has been fond of political commentary, and has become an active personality online. He has concentrated on using his personal Weibo to launch missives at and deride China's current political system and its various related symbols, and essentially stands in opposition to the mainstream values of Chinese society. This is diametrically opposed to the values advanced by the heroic roles that plays.

CCTV did not publicly discuss the reasons it cancelled the broadcast of "8848," but various online analysis concluded that it is related to the heated rhetoric of Sun Haiying's Weibo. If this is the case, then I'm afraide that what CCTV did was no accident.
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This is not an issue of freedom or no freedom. Sun has been speaking freely, and as a Christian he often "preaches" on his Weibo, with no restrictions.

据互联网11日传出的消息，孙海英参演的军事题材电视剧《8848》被央视放弃播出，引来一片热议。孙海英本人通过他的微博表达强烈不满，相当多的网友则对央视的做法表示支持。

据报道，《8848》是一部长篇现实军旅题材的励志片，描述一批驻扎西藏的极地特种兵的成长故事。
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然而孙这几年热衷政治评论，成为互联网上的活跃人物。他十分密集地通过个人微博抨击、嘲弄中国现行政治制度及与之相关的各种符号，基本站到了中国社会主流价值观的对立面，与他所饰演的正面英雄角色在价值取向上南辕北辙。

央视没有公开谈论取消播出《8848》的缘由，但是互联网上的各种分析认为，这与孙海英在微博上的激烈言论有关。如果是这样的话，那么央视的做法恐怕算不上意外。
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这不是自由不自由的问题。孙一直自由发言，作为基督徒他经常在微博上“传教”，也没有受限。

December 2015, the Cyber Administration of China organized meetings at the offices of China’s major website operators to “study the spirit of the Communiqué of the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee.” For example, according to a report on the CAC website, on December 11, 2015, a meeting was held in Baidu’s offices, with over 100 Baidu employees in attendance. At the meeting it was “stressed that as a focal point of the State’s cyberspace  work, Baidu should be attentive to the work of the National Cyberspace System” (强调百度作为国家网信工作的重点单位，应着眼全国网信系统工作大局).

February 25, 2016, the Cyberspace Administration of China published an announcement entitled "The Results of the 2015 National Cyberspace System Law Enforcement's Raising the Flag and Unsheathing the Sword are Clear" (2015年全国网信执法举旗亮剑成效明显). Some excerpts:

According to statistics, during the entire year [of 2015] the national cyberspace system scheduled meetings with 820 illegal website operators over 1,000 times, and in accordance with the law cancelled the ICP licenses and registrations and shut down serious violators involving 4,977 websites, and shut down 2,260,000 various sorts of illegal accounts.
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With respect to outstanding issues that arose involving illegal online information content, the CAC arranged talks with Sina, Netease, Baidu, Sohu, Miaopai, etc., and this produced a significant social impact. As regards outstanding issues with harmful operating behavior by Internet enterprises, such as Baidu offering its "Hemophilia Forum" for sale, and other commercial operations where management was in chaos, meetings were held with officials at Baidu, and they were urged to undertake comprehensive correction and reform.
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With respect to various outstanding problems with news websites, weibo, weixin, search engines, forums, PostBar, etc, the CAC launched five comprehensive campaigns including the "Clean Web 2015," "Fix Borders 2015," "Purify Sources 2015," "Autumn Wind 2015," and "Seedling Protection 2015" to continuously cleanse the web of all kinds of illegal harmful information such as obscene pornography.

据统计，全国网信系统全年依法约谈违法违规网站820余家1000余次，依法取消违法违规网站许可或备案、依法关闭严重违法违规网站4977家，有关网站依法关闭各类违法违规账号226万多个。
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国家网信办就网络信息内容违法违规突出问题先后约谈新浪、网易、百度、搜狐、秒拍等，产生强烈社会反响；针对互联网企业不良经营行为突出问题，如百度贴吧出卖“血友病吧”，商业化运作管理混乱等突出问题，约谈百度公司负责人，督促其全面整改；
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针对新闻网站、微博、微信、搜索引擎、论坛、贴吧等各环节突出问题，国家网信办还开展了“净网2015”“清源2015”“固边2015”“秋风2015”“护苗2015”5个网上专项整治行动，持续清理网上淫秽色情低俗等各类有害信息。

February 26, 2016, the Cyberspace Administration of China published an announcement on its website entitled "CAC Continues to Strike Hard Against Illegal Behavior" (国家网信办持续重拳打击网上违法违规行为). Some excerpts:

Relevant websites shut down the accounts of several online Big V's such as @Luoyameng, @ActorSunHaiying, @WangYajunShanghai, @RongJián2001, @WenShanwa, @Jiyun, and @DaPengViewsTheWorld, on the grounds that they disregarded their social responsibilities, abused their personal influence, and on many occasions did engage in the behavior of posting illegal information online that opposed the basic principles affirmed in the Constitution, harmed the honor and interests of the nation, and spread rumors causing social disorder.

针对少数网络名人无视社会责任，滥用自身影响力，在网上多次发布反对宪法所确定的基本原则、损害国家荣誉和利益以及造谣传谣、扰乱社会秩序等违法违规信息的行为，有关网站依法关闭@罗亚蒙、@演员孙海英、@王亚军上海、@荣剑2001、@文山娃、@纪昀、@大鹏看天下等网络大V账号。

On February 27, 2016, the state sponsored Global Times published a report entitled “CAC Closes 580 ‘Misleading’ Social Media Accounts.” Some excerpts:

China's cyberspace administration authority shut down 580 social media accounts which "misled the public" or "violated regulations," including the accounts of several Internet celebrities, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said on Friday.
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Among the big Vs, a term which refers to verified Weibo users who have more than 500,000 followers, who have been shut down are famous actor Sun Haiying, an editor of a Henan-based news website hnr.cn and a Beijing art center manager.

Sun has been the center of public criticism several times for making "disrespectful" comments about former leader Mao Zedong and for condemning homosexuality.

This screenshot was taken on February 28, 2016, and shows that a search on Sina Weibo for accounts with "Sun Haiying" in the name returned a censorship notice.