Government Calls Out Sina Blogs for "Distorting Party History"

On January 7, 2017, the the Cyberspace Administration of China published a notice on its website entitled "Sina, Global Times, China.com, and Other Websites Post Harmful Information in Violation of Rules, Get Reported by China's Internet Users" (新浪网、环球网、中华网等网站违规刊载有害信息 受到网民集中举报). Some excerpts:

In 2016, the the China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Center (hereinafter "Reporting Center") received almost 1,000,000 reports from the public. These included reports that Sina, Global Times, Netease, China.com, Voice of China, Shangdu, Tom.com, and Chongqing Online were publishing harmful information in violation of rules, or were providing a platform for the publication of harmful information. There was a strong negative public reaction.
. . . .
Based on user reports and a selective examination by the Reporting Center, various channels on Sina included vulgar and revealing photos, text and information, and there was a relatively large quantity of posts on Sina blogs that distorted Party and national history, spread evil cults and promoted pornographic videos. 

Netease's "Headline Party" problem was particularly acute, and in an attempt to attract eyeballs it would maliciously distort headlines, publish articles selectively, exaggerate facts, and mislead the public. 

Some of the articles on the Global Times used vulgar and exotic language to attract readers, and had a harmful orientation. There was a lack of effective moderation of comments, and some comments were extremist and spread rumors.  

2016年，国家互联网信息办公室违法和不良信息举报中心（以下简称“举报中心”）共受理公众举报近百万件次，其中，新浪网、环球网、网易网、中华网、华声在线、商都网、TOM网、重庆热线8家网站违规刊载有害信息，或为有害信息传播提供平台，网民举报集中，社会反应强烈。
. . . .
根据公众举报及举报中心抽查，新浪个别频道存在低俗暴露图文信息，新浪博客中存在较多歪曲党史国史、宣扬邪教及推介色情AV的帖文。网易“标题党”问题突出，为博人眼球，恶意篡改标题、选择性报道，夸大事实，误导公众。环球网一些文章用低俗、猎奇字眼吸引读者，导向不良；跟帖评论缺乏有效管理，一些跟帖言论偏激、传播谣言。

Sogou and Microsoft's Bing Cooperate on English Language Search

On May 20, 2016, the state sponsored China Daily published an article entitled “Sogou, Bing Unite for ‘Bigger World' Searches.” Some excerpts:

Sogou Inc joined forces with a Western search engine giant in a new English-language search service, looking to take advantage of Baidu Inc's recent crisis to gain more market share.

Sogou, which operates China's third-largest online search engine, said on Thursday that to satisfy Chinese curiosity for global information, it has teamed up with Microsoft's Bing to launch an English-language search engine.

Wang Xiaochuan, CEO of Beijing-based Sogou, said the desire to closely link with the whole world prompted his company to launch the service. "We invite you, together with us, to embrace a bigger world.”

All of the following screenshots were taken on May 20, 2016.

Sogou’s English search engine found over 38,000 results for “Cai Yingwen,” but no results for “Xi Jinping.”

Baidu was able to find results for "Xi Jinping" in English.

Sogou’s English search engine found over 3,000 results for “Great Leap Forward,” but no results for “Cultural Revolution.”

Baidu was able to find results for "Cultural Revolution" in English.

Sogou’s English search engine found over 8 Million results for “Forbidden City,” but no results for “Tiananmen.”

Baidu was able to find results for "Tiananmen" in English.

Sogou’s English search engine found over 4 million results for “Dalai Lama,” but no results for “Li Hongzhi.”

Baidu was able to find results for "Li Hongzhi" in English. 

Sogou’s English search engine found almost 2 million results for “Independent Tibet,” but no results for “Tibetan Independence.”

Baidu was able to find results for "Tibetan Independence" in English.

Sogou’s English search engine found almost 2 million results for “Obscenity,” but no results for “Pornography.”

Baidu was able to find results for "Pornography" in English.

Sogou’s English search engine found over 13 million results for “Vagina,” but no results for “Penis.”

Baidu was able to find results for "Penis" in English.

State Media Details Detention of 17 Sina Internet Editors in Police Raid

On May 29, 2014, the state sponsored Southern Weekend published an article entitled “Why Are We  Screening You?” (“为什么要屏蔽你？”) Some excerpts:

After working hard all day, Wu Feng, an editor in Sina's online book division, had finally finished all his tasks, and checked the time. It was already 7:30 pm.

The day was April 11, 2014. On a normal day the office would have long since emptied out. But this was not a normal day, and Wu Feng's 16 coworkers were still immersed in their work. Early that morning the editorial department had "received information": a new round of "sweeping out porn and attacking illegal publications" had begun, and every employee had to stay to delete the "little yellow books" on the Book Channel. They had to "hide the bodies and destroy the evidence" before the relevant organs conducted an inspection.

Wu Feng had planned to head home, but at the last minute didn't leave. His colleagues saw him as a "old hand," and he felt he should wait patiently and leave with the other editors. It wouldn't hurt to wait for a bit.

But just ten minutes later he would regret this decision. At 7:40, law enforcement personnel forced their way into the office without warning, and took away 17 editors as the first move in the campaign.

Friends and relatives quickly noticed that the editors had "disappeared," and they called Sina's editorial department, where they all received an identical response: "The 17 editors have gone abroad on business."

Wu Feng's 10 minute delay turned into a one month "trip abroad." His "return home" was relatively quick. At the time of this report, six of the seventeen editors remained in custody.

The riddle of the "disappearance" was only solved on April 16. On that day, Sina Books and Sina Video (Beijing Sina Internet Information Service Company) each received a "Beijing Culture Market Administrative Enforcement Hearing Notice" from the Beijing Culture Market Administrative Enforcement Unit. The Notice stated the "intent to revoke" the "Internet Publishing License" and "Internet Audio-Visual Transmission License" and impose sanctions.

Revocation of these two "Licenses" is one of the most severe attacks a website can suffer.
. . . .
Human screening requires speed. For a screener "speed reading is a basic skill." So-called speed reading means taking no more than 15 seconds to read 1,000 words. Based on this speed, during a sensitive time a screener must work at least 11-12 hours a day. As [one screener] told the Souther Weekend, "No matter how much you like to read novels, reading 3,000,000 words in one day is enough to make you want to puke."
. . . .
Despite all this, after the "great cleansing" began, even the most professional screeners were still faced with a new problem: during this time, what is the standard? Where is the scale?

No one could provide an answer. The only thing to do was for each website to "expand the vocabulary" of the dictionary of banned terms that they had been using.
. . . .
In order comply with the censorship, websites often remain on standby awaiting orders 24 hours a day. Once, the Internet police sent an order to a certain literary website at 7:50 am, informing them they had half an hour to delete all discussion regarding a certain word.

By the time the editors arrived at the office, it was already 9:30. The editors couldn't believe their eyes: by that time the second warning had long since arrived.
The editors scurried to delete what they were supposed to, but they were too late. The website was ordered to shut down for 12 hours. After that, this literary website, which had nothing to do with news, immediately set up a system of round-the-clock rotating editors in order to ensure there was someone on duty 24 hours a day.

忙了一整天，新浪读书编辑吴峰终于干完了自己手上的活，看看时间，已是19：30。

这天是2014年4月11日。按往常，办公室里早就没了人影。可这天不一样，吴峰的16位同事还在埋头苦干——一大早，编辑部就“收到消息”：新一轮“扫黄打非”要开始了，所有工作人员都要留下来删查读书频道里的“小黄书”。在有关部门检查之前，必须“毁尸灭迹”。

吴峰本打算回家，但他最终还是没有动。作为大伙儿眼里的“老好人”，他觉得自己应该耐心等待其他编辑下班一起走，哪怕再等到一个也好。

但十分钟后，他就为自己的这个决定后悔了。19：40，公安执法人员毫无预兆地破门而入，带走了“顶风作案”的17个编辑。

亲友们很快发现编辑们“不见了”，他们打电话到新浪总部，收到的统一回复是：“17个编辑集体出国出差了。”

吴峰迟走了十分钟，于是“出国”了一个多月。他算“回家”快的。截至南方周末记者发稿前，17名编辑中还有6位仍处于拘留状态。

“失踪”之谜到4月16日才真正解开。这天，新浪读书和新浪视频（北京新浪互联信息服务有限公司）分别收到了来自北京市文化市场行政执法总队下发的《北京市文化市场行政执法听证告知书》，内容是“拟吊销”其《互联网出版许可证》和《信息网络传播视听节目许可证》，并处以罚款。

吊销两个“许可证”是对网站最为严厉的打击之一。
. . . .
人工排查需要速度。对审读编辑来说，“速读是基本功”——所谓速读，是阅读千字至少不能低于15秒。按照这个速度，审读员在敏感时期每天至少要工作十一二个小时，“再喜欢看小说，一天看300万字，也会想吐。”华雪城对南方周末记者说。
. . . .
即便如此，“大清查”开始后，专业素质过硬的审读编辑们还是遇到了新难题：这一回，标准是什么？尺度在哪儿？

没人能回答。各网站只好在以往的违禁词标准上，“扩大词汇量”。
. . . .
为配合审查，网站常常得24小时待命。曾经有一次，网监在早晨7：50时发信警告某文学网，通知他们半小时内必须删掉所有关于某个词的违禁讨论。

可等编辑们到了办公室，已经是早上9：30。编辑们傻了眼：此时，第二封警告信也早就到了。

编辑们七手八脚把该删的删了，但还是超时太多。网站被勒令关闭12个小时。在这之后，这个不涉及新闻的文学网立即增设了值班编辑轮岗制度，保证24小时有人在岗。

Baidu Doesn’t Censor Searches for “Tiananmen Massacre” On Its Japan Search Engine

Below, the left-hand screenshot was taken on May 28, 2014, and shows that when a user in Japan searches for “Tiananmen Massacre” (天安门大屠杀) in Chinese on Baidu.com, Baidu informs them that “In accordance with relevant laws, regulations, and policies, some search results have not been displayed.” (根据相关法律法规和政策，部分搜索结果未予显示。) Baidu restricts search results to about a dozen websites that under the direct control of the central government and the Communist Party, such as:

• Xinhua
• China News
• Guangming Daily
• China Youth Daily
• People’s Daily
• China Radio International
• Taiwan.cn

The same search done on Baidu’s Japan search engine, Baidu.jp, returns apparently uncensored results, with the first three results being from Youtube.

This screenshot shows that when a user searches Baidu.com for “Tiananmen Massacre” on Youtube.com, they are not shown a censorship notice, but rather are told that Baidu cannot find any search results.

This screenshot shows an article from the People’s Daily website from 2007. It says that Baidu’s Japan website had been blocked by the Great Firewall, the suspected reason being pornography.

China Launches Porn Crackdown (Again), Sina Gets Called Out (Again), Apologizes (Again), Loses Licenses (That's A First)

On April 21, 2014, the state sponsored Global Times published an article entitled “Chinese Websites Vow No Porn.” Some excerpts:

Major Chinese websites have vowed not to attempt to exploit pornographic content to boost their click rates, amid a national crackdown on online pornography.

The websites, including 15 affiliated to state news organizations, and six commercial websites such as sina.com, qq.com and baidu.com pledged support for the crackdown at a conference held by the State Internet Information Office (SIIO) on Monday.

On April 24, Xinhua published an article entitled “China's Sina.com Hit by Ban After Porn Offense.” Some excerpt:

China's Internet giant Sina.com will be stripped of its online publication license, a penalty that might partially ban its operations, after articles and videos on the site fell prey to the country's high-profile anti-porn movement.

According to a statement released on Thursday by the National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications, 20 articles and four videos posted on Sina.com were confirmed to have contained lewd and pornographic content following "a huge amount" of public tip-offs.

As of result, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television decided to revoke the company's two crucial licenses on Internet publication and audio and video dissemination and impose "a large number of fines."

The same day, Sina published the following apology:

Statement of Apology

Today, the media has revealed a problem in that Sina's Book Channel Original Novels linked to, and some content on Sina's Video Channel blog included, content that was suspected of being obscene and pornographic. We feel deeply distressed about this, and to the Internet users and society generally we express our most sincere apologies.

Notwithstanding our ongoing efforts, nevertheless there has indeed been some content on Sina that was not blocked, as well as negligent oversight. As one of China's most influential web sites, we have not been able to fulfill our responsibility to protect our users, and for this we are deeply regretful and ashamed.

As regards the severe sanctions which the relevant organs have imposed on us, we will strictly carry them out and absolutely will not try to shift responsibility.

After the problem was exposed, our company immediately set up a dedicated working group and ordered relevant departments and relevant teams to carry out a thorough investigation and rectify and reform: First, those responsible will be dealt with severely, and will voluntarily admit their errors to the relevant organs, and undertake profound self-criticism. Second, the reasons for this will be uncovered and lessons will be learned, and a self-examination and self-rectification will be undertaken of all content on the web site. Third, a reform and rectification will be undertaken, and effective mechanisms for examination will be established in order to ensure this kind of think will not happen again.

We are currently engaged in close communication and coordination with the relevant organs in order to allow our reform and rectification work to be more focused, and at the same time reduce losses to relevant business operations as much as possible. Finally, as always, we appeal to Internet users to provide us with oversight and criticism. At the same time, we are also willing, together with all other web sites, to resolutely act in concert and support the nation's "Cleaning the Web 2014" campaign, carry forward the main theme, arouse positive energy, and work together to build a cool and bright Internet space.

Sina

May 24, 2014

致歉声明

今天，媒体曝光了新浪读书频道原创小说连载、新浪视频频道播客栏目部分内容存在涉嫌传播淫秽色情信息的问题。对此，我们深感痛心，特向广大网友和社会各界致以最诚挚的道歉。

虽然我们一直在努力，但是新浪网的确存在着对部分内容把关不严、疏于监控的现象。作为国内最有影响力的网站之一，我们未能够做到守土有责，对此我们倍感遗憾和惭愧。

对于网络主管部门给予我们的严厉处罚，我们将认真执行，决不推诿。

问题曝光后，公司在第一时间成立专项整改小组，要求各相关部门和相关环节进行彻查整改：一是对相关责任人予以严肃处理，主动向主管部门坦承错误，并做出深刻检讨；二是查找原因，举一反三，对全网站内容进行自查自纠；三是进行整改，建立核查长效机制，确保此类事件不再发生。

同时，我们正与主管部门进行密切的沟通和配合，以使我们的整改工作更有针对性，同时使相关业务的损失降到最低。 最后，呼吁广大网友一如既往地对我们进行监督和批评。同时，我们也愿意和所有网站一道，坚决响应和支持国家“扫黄打非，净网2014”行动，弘扬主旋律，激发正能量，共同建设一个清朗的网络空间 。

新浪网

2014年4月24日

This is not the first time Sina has apologized for pornographic content on its web site. On January 5, 2009, the State Council Information Office, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology,  Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Culture, State Administration for Industry and Commerce, State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television, and General Administration of Press and Publication held a teleconference to announce that their agencies were launching a “Campaign to Rectify Internet Indecency.” The same day the SCIO's web site published an article entitled "Seven Agencies Launch Crackdown on Prurient Internet Trends" (七部委开展整治互联网低俗之风专项行动), which cited Cai Mingzhao as stating:

Some websites exploit gaps in policies and regulations and try to dodge responsibility, they use various means to disseminate content that is low brow and vulgar, even obscene, severely corrupting the online atmosphere. Online indecency is spreading unchecked, and is seriously harming the physical and mental health of a large number of young people, it is a disaster for numerous households, endangering posterity and directly harming the personal interests of the masses. All aspects of society are focused on this, and the reaction of the masses is strong, with many parents calling out to “save the children,” and strongly demanding the Party and the government to adopt resolute measures to resolve the problem. 

一些网站钻政策法规空子，采取打擦边球的办法，以多种形式发布格调低下、内容粗俗甚至低级下流信息，严重败坏网上风气。网上低俗之风泛滥，严重危害广大青少年身心健康，殃及千家万户，祸及子孙后代，直接危害人民群众的切身利益，社会各界十分关注，广大群众反映强烈，许多家长发出“救救孩子”的呼声，强烈要求党和政府采取坚决措施加以整治。

The same day, the China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Centre issued a list of 19 websites with “a large quantity of indecent content that violates social mores and harms the physical and mental health of the youth.” Topping the list were Google, Baidu, Sina, Sohu, Tencent, NetEase, Chinaren.com, and Zhongsou.com.

On January 6, 2009, Baidu, Google, NetEase (youdao.com), Sina, Sohu (sogou.com), and Tencent (soso.com) issued statements regarding their inclusion on the government’s list of websites with pornographic content. Here is Sina’s 2009 apology: http://news.xinhuanet.com/internet/2009-01/07/content_10615493.htm

On January 5, 2009, the SCIO and six other agencies launched a campaign dedicated to cleansing the web of vulgar content. With respect to our faults and the negative impact these faults may have had on Internet users, Sina feels deeply distressed and views this as very important. We have promptly launched a comprehensive cleanup, and are carrying out investigations, revisions, and closures of that content which has already been shown to have problems. We are strengthening content oversight procedures and requirements, and those who are responsible will be severely dealt with.
Sina would especially like to express its most sincere regrets to Internet users for the problem of indecent content on websites. We earnestly commit to you: From this day forward we will adopt effective measures to completely and thoroughly remove indecent and other harmful content, we will take the initiative against the winds of indecency, clean up the Internet environment, and work hard to build a healthy and civilized Internet culture. 

2009年1月5日，国新办等7部门发起了整治互联网低俗之风专项行动。新浪网因相册和博客栏目对新增低俗内容删除不及时被曝光批评。对于我们存在的问题和由此可能给网民带来的不良影响，新浪网深感痛心并高度重视，立即展开全方位清理，对已被点名或可能存在问题的栏目进行清查、整改和关闭，强化内容监控的工作流程和要求，并严肃处理了相关责任人。
对于网站存在低俗内容的问题，新浪网特向广大网友表示最诚挚的歉意，并郑重承诺：即日起采取一切有效措施，对低俗等有害信息进行完全彻底的清除，自觉抵制低俗之风，净化互联网环境，为打造健康、文明的网络文化而努力。

For more on the 2009 anti-porn campaign, see here: A Chronicle of China's State Run Media Attacks on Apple in 2013, With Some Historical Perspective.

Global Times and Xinhua Report Porn Movie As Video of an Actual US Prison Execution

In July 2013, the Beijing-based Xilu Net (西陆网 - ) web site published a series images from a video under the title "Record of American Female Prisoner Executed by Lethal Injection: Her Corpse is Almost Raped Post Mortem." (美国女囚注射死刑实录：死后差点被奸尸) According to Xilu:

Mike is a medic at an American prison, its exact address cannot be disclosed because it is classified. I'd say he's a doctor, but in fact he's also responsible for additional duties.
马克，美国一座监狱的医疗人员，具体地址不便透露，因为这是机密，我说是医生，其实也负责某些额外工作。

Original URL: http://pic.xilu.com/zutu/201307/50176789/50176789_297958.html

On August 1, the Communist Party Youth League's Guang Ming Net (光明网) published the same series of images (with the Xilu watermark) on its web site, this time under the title "Record of Female Prisoner's Execution Shows This World's Darkest Side" (女囚死刑实录 揭世界最黑暗一面)

Original URL: http://it.gmw.cn/2013-08/01/content_8478339_38.htm

On August 3, the Global Times (published by the Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily), published the same series of images (with the Xilu watermark as well as a Baidu PostBar (Tieba 贴吧) watermark) on its web site with the same title used by Guang Ming Net.

Original URL: http://look.huanqiu.com/photo/2013-08/2703191_40.html

On August 6, China's official news agency Xinhua and the State Council Information Office's China.com.cn both published the same series of images (again with the Xilu and Baidu PostBar watermarks) on their web sites, again with the same title as Guang Ming Net.

Original URLs:

• http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2013-08/06/c_125121432_30.htm
• http://news.china.com.cn/rollnews/news/live/2013-08/06/content_21512943.htm

The State Council Information Office's web site added the following context:

The criminal is a very young woman, and is somewhat South American in appearance. Its said her name is Annie, a drug trafficker. Ah, she couldn't live the good life, but why seek out death, I stick out a hand and look at her coldly, today her sentence will be carried out . . . .
犯人是个很年轻的女孩，长的有些南美人的样子，据说是叫安妮，贩毒罪名，哎……好好的日子不过，为什么要寻死呢，我插着手冷冷看着她，今天就是她的行刑日……

On August 6, the Out of My Face Blog noted:

I have since identified the source of these images on a site specializing in rape themed pornography: http://xxxrape.net/necro/523-lethal-injection.html 

After Out of My Face reported this, China's state-run media outlets deleted the story and images from their web sites.

Zhejiang Daily Deletes Editorial on Fallen Party Translation Bureau Head Yi Junqing

On January 17, 2013, China's official news agency Xinhua reported that Yi Junqing (衣俊卿), director of the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, had been removed from his post for "living an improper lifestyle." (生活作风问题)

On January 18, the Zhejiang Daily published an editorial entitled "Mouth Full of Marxism, Belly Full of Deceit" (满嘴马列，满腹盗娼) here - http://zjdaily.zjol.com.cn/qjwb/html/2013-01/18/content_1966004.htm?div=-1. Below, the left-hand screenshot shows the article as it appeared on January 18. The right-hand screenshot shows that same page as it appeared on January 20.

Some excerpts:

Yesterday evening after six a breaking news bulletin (so short it could not have been any shorter) was posted at the top of major web sites -- according to information confirmed by relevant agencies, Yi Junqing had been deemed unsuited to remain at his post as director of the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee on the grounds that he had been living an improper lifestyle, and had been dismissed from his position. 

Prior to this, the story of Yi Junqing and Chang Yan had remained suspended in the realm of "fiction." Chang Yan, a post-doctorate who had previously published a 120,000 character tell-all and filed a complaint against Yi Junqing using her real name (including details of 17 hotel rendezvous), had just last month deleted posts and on December 12, 2012 had undertook to refute those facts as rumors, saying the content of her real name complaints were just "fiction written in a moment of insanity," and that she hoped everyone would just laugh it off. 

Looking back on this now, it seems that every Internet user insisted on believing that the "fiction" was in fact a record of actual events, that Chang Yan's rumor refuting must have been the result of some pressure, and they continued to follow the story, waiting for the veil to be lifted to see what really lay beneath. And last night, when the news of Yi Junqing's dismissal broke, it confirmed the expertise and "cunning" of these Internet users. 

昨晚6点过后，一条短得不能再短的新闻迅速占据了各大网站头条位置——据有关部门证实，中央编译局局长衣俊卿因为生活作风问题，不适合继续在现岗位工作，已免去其中央编译局局长职务。 

而在此前，关于衣俊卿，关于常艳，他们的故事，还停留在“小说”里。常艳，这位用长达12万日记体文字，实名举报与衣俊卿的情史，包括17次在酒店开房细节的博士后，一个月前删除发帖，于2012年12月12日自我辟谣，称实名举报内容是“狂想状态下的小说”，希望大家读后一笑了之。 

令人回味的是，几乎所有围观的网民坚持相信“小说”是纪实，认定自我辟谣的常艳一定出于某种压力，因而继续围观，坐等盖头揭开。而昨晚，衣俊卿去职新闻，印证了网民的老到和“狡黠”。

The March 2012 Ferrari Crash: Chronicling the Censorship

March 2012

This screenshot shows a Google cache of a Beijing Evening News report that the state-sponsored Global Times republished on its web site at around 8 pm on March 18, 2012 entitled "Three Pulled From Ferrari That Crashed Into a Bridge In the Middle of the Night, One Died at the Scene" (法拉利深夜撞桥车内3人被甩出 1人当场死亡). That report said that at around 4 am that morning, a Ferrari crashed on Beijing's fourth ring road, killing one and injuring two. The Global Times deleted the article on March 20, and the URL (http://society.huanqiu.com/roll/2012-03/2533717.html) now points to an error page.

This screenshot shows that, by noon on March 19, Sina Weibo was already censoring searches for "Ferrari."

These screenshots were taken at around 3 pm on March 19. The left-hand image shows that a search for "Ferrari Crashes" (法拉利 车祸) on Baidu returns thousands of results, but only from a white list of about a dozen websites controlled by the central government and the Communist Party. The right-hand screenshots show that the same search on Sogou and Youdao return no results, only notices:

• Sogou: "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)
• Youdao: "Apologies, the content you are searching for may not comply with relevant laws, and search results cannot be displayed." (抱歉，您搜索的内容有可能不符合相关法律，搜索结果将不能被显示。)

These screenshots were taken the same day at around 3:50 and 6:10, respectively, and show that a search for "Ferrari Crashes" on Soso at 3:50 returned over 1/2 million results, from websites such as Sohu, QQ, Tudou, Ku6, and Youku. Less than three hours later the same search on Soso returned around 1,700, and all of the results on the first page were from Xinhua (in fact, all of the results I found on paging through the results were from Xinhua).

The top two screenshots below were also taken on the afternoon of the 19th, and show two Baidu Tieba users'  posts relating to the Ferrari crash:

• "Looking for the truth, is this the car?" http://tieba.baidu.com/p/1463708139
• "Why are posts about the Beijing Ferrari crash being deleted?" http://tieba.baidu.com/p/1464563048

The bottom two screenshots above were taken around 7:30 pm on the 19th, and show that visitors to these URLs are now told:

Apologies, the post you are trying to access does not exist.
The system will automatically shut this page in 10 seconds.
Warning: Baidu will handle all legally-compliant complaints in accordance with the law, and will not accept any payments.
Please utilize appropriate channels for making complaints, and do not believe those fraudulent actions of those criminals who take money to delete posts.
很抱歉，你访问的贴子不存在。
系统将在10秒后，自动关闭此页面
严正声明：凡符合法律规定的投诉请求，百度将依法予以处理，且不收取任何费用。
请采取正常投诉途径投诉，切勿相信不法分子收费删贴的欺诈行为。

At around 11:45 pm on March 19, 2012, the Global Times published an English-language only report entitled "Ferrari Crash Information Hushed Up." An excerpt:

Almost all online information about a car crash on Sunday, in which a man driving a Ferrari was killed and his two female passengers injured, has been deleted overnight, triggering suspicions as to the identity of the deceased driver. . . . Sina deleted all microblog posts which mentioned the accident, and blocked online searches of the word "Ferrari." The Global Times also found that news reports about the crash were deleted from many web portals, such as Tencent's QQ online chat service.

June 2012

On May 31, 2012, the China-based portal web site Sina.com published an article entitled "The Secret Beijing March 18 Ferrari Crash: Ling Jihua's Son Killed Having High-Speed 'Car Sex'." That article (pictured at right in a screenshot taken on June 3) was originally available here, but it has since been deleted. According to the article:

The most recent information exposed on Internet forums is that there were three people in the car, and the male driver was the son of Ling Jihua, and he died at the scene. Two women were severely injured, and after being sent to the hospital one of them died. The two women were students at Minzu University. The reason for the accident: the driver was engaged in high-speed "car sex" while driving.
网络论坛最新信息透露：车上3人，男性驾驶员是令计划之公子，他当场死亡。2女子重伤，送到医院抢救后一人死亡。而两名女子同为民族大学在校学生。事故原因：驾驶人高速驾车玩“车震”。

These screenshots show that, at some time between March 19 and June 3, 2012, Baidu increased censorship of searches for "Ferrari crashes." (法拉利 车祸) In March, Baidu was restricting search results to about a dozen websites controlled by the central government and the Communist Party. By June 3, however, Baidu was returning 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。)

The above screenshot, also taken on June 3, shows that Baidu was also censoring all search results for "Master Ling." (令公子)

These screenshots show that on June 3,  about the same time Baidu was blacklisting searches for "Ferrari Crashes" (法拉利 车祸), Soso was returning over 2 million (apparently) uncensored search results for the same query. Two days later, however, Soso was once again restricting search results for that same query to a white list of about dozen web sites controlled by the central government and the Communist Party, and was returning less than 30 thousand search results.

These screenshots show that, at the same time that Soso reinstituted its censorship of searches for "Ferrari Crashes," it also began censoring searches for "Master Ling" (令公子). On June 3, Soso was returning over 14 million (apparently) uncensored search results for that query. Two days later, however, Soso was restricting search results for that query to a white list of about dozen web sites controlled by the central government and the Communist Party, and was returning just over 130 thousand search results.

September 2012

On September 2, 2012, the state-sponsored Global Times reported:

The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee has appointed Ling Jihua as head of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, replacing Du Qinglin.
Ling will no longer hold the post as director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee. Li Zhanshu has been appointed as the Office's director.

These screenshots, taken on September 3, show that both Baidu and Sina Weibo were still censoring "Ferrari Crash."

These screenshots, taken on September 3, show that, while Sina Weibo was no longer censoring "Ferrari," it was censoring searches for "Ferrari Ling" (法拉利 令).

These screenshots, taken in June and September, respectively, show that Baidu, like all major search engines in China, was restricting search results for both "Ling Jihua" (令计划) and "Ling Gu" (令谷) to white list of about a dozen web sites controlled by the central government and the Communist Party.

It is worth nothing that neither Sina Weibo nor Tencent Weibo were censoring searches for "Ling Gu."  Instead, as these screenshots show, they were deleting individual posts. The top screenshot shows that on September 3, there was a post from August 26 saying "Isda Ling Gu, this the name of this valley, the word Ling Gu is blocked." (艾斯达令谷，是这个峡谷的名字，令谷这个词被屏蔽)

The middle screenshot, taken September 4, shows the August 26 post still there, as well a new post (originally available at this URL) from that afternoon saying "The first thing people will ask, why was Ling Gu driving a luxury sports car worth 5,000,000 yuan." (人们首先会问，为什么令谷能开得起价值500万元的豪华跑车。)

The bottom screenshot, taken on September 5, shows that both of those posts have been deleted, and now the most recent result for a search for "Ling Gu" is from July 29.

A post about Ling Gu deleted from Tencent Weibo

Report of Car Sex Death Rumors Deleted, Web Site Closed, Search Terms Censored

On August 22, 2012, the China-based web site Tuiduo Net (推度网 - "tuiduo" means "conjecture" in Chinese) published an article entitled "Internet Rumor Spreads That PLA General Assembly Base Deputy Director and Mistress Die Having Sex in Car." (网传解放军总装基地副部长搞车震与情妇双亡) This screenshot shows that by September 8 the article had been deleted.

Indeed, it now appears that the entire website has been shut down. The www.hnsrw.cn web site originally displayed the ICP registration number "湘ICP备08102222号." Now it shows the registration number is "湘ICP备10023842号," and its name is changed to "Merchant Alliance" (招商加盟). This screenshot shows the web site as it appeared on September 8.

These screenshots show that China's major search engines such as Baidu, Sogou, and Youdao censored searches containing terms from the report's title - in each case the search engine returns no results, just a notice saying that it would be illegal to do so:

September 5: "Base Car Sex" (基地 车震)

September 3: "General Assembly Car Sex" (总装 车震)

September 3: "Director Car Sex" (部长 车震)

These screenshots show that Qihoo did not, however, censor any of these search terms.