Wednesday, February 17, 2021

COVID-19 Series: People Silenced and Punished by the Chinese Government

1. Individuals Detained for Sharing Information Online About the  COVID-19 Outbreak

 Throughout January 2020 China's government continued to punish people for sharing information online about COVID-19. Here are some examples:

Police Report
 
Recently, during the nationwide fight against the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic, Wang Doe, Liu Doe, and Wang Doe #3 fabricated and spread rumors on the Internet and were subjected to administrative detention by the police.

On January 23, Wang Doe (female, 35 years old, from Shapingba District) spread rumors in a friends  circle that "Chongqing Shapingba, Jiangbei District, and Yubei District has imposed controls." On the same day, Liu Doe (male, 26 years old, from Tongliang District) spread a rumor that "Panxi and Shimahe areas in Jiangbei have been closed off by the police" in a WeChat group. An investigation found that Wang Doe and Liu Doe fabricated and spread rumors based on hearsay in order to attract people's attention, and created panic. They were subjected to administrative detention by the Nan'an and Jiangbei police, respectively. On January 24, Wang Doe #3 (female, 27 years old, from Shapingba District) saw information related to government departments' prevention and handling of the epidemic on the Internet, and fabricated and spread rumors out of context to attract people's attention, causing a pernicious influence. She was subjected to administrative detention by the Yongchuan police.

The police reiterated that the Internet is not a place outside the law, and public security agencies will investigate and deal with illegal activities involving fabricating and spreading rumors and disrupting public order. It is hoped that the majority of Internet users will not believe or spread rumors, jointly maintain a good online environment, and unite and fight the epidemic together.



Source: Screenshot of the Chongqing Public Security official Weibo Account from "Three people spread rumors of the epidemic and were administratively detained by Chongqing police" [3人散布疫情谣言，被重庆警方行政拘留], January 25, 2020, https://www.guancha.cn/politics/2020_01_25_533127.shtml.

Information Bulletin
 
On November 23, 110 received a police report saying that someone had posted information in a WeChat group to deliberately exaggerate the number of new coronavirus pneumonia infections in the country and this city. On January 24, the Jinnan Branch of the Public Security Bureau apprehended the suspect Gao Doe (female, 34 years old, Tianjin). Gao confessed to fabricating information and spreading it in WeChat groups. Now Gao has been subjected to five days administrative detention in accordance with the law. 
 
The public security agency reiterated that the Internet is not a place outside the law, and every citizen is responsible for their speech and must abide by national laws and regulations. Public security organs will resolutely investigate and punish those who openly spread rumors. Internet users are requested not to believe in or spread rumors, and work together to keep cyberspace  clean.
 
January 24, 2020
 


Source: Screenshot of the Tianjin Public Security Bureau WeChat Public Account from "Woman who spread false information about new pneumonia on the Internet was administratively detained for 5 days" [女子在网络上散布新型肺炎不实信息 被行政拘留5日], January 25, 2020, https://m.chinanews.com/wap/detail/zw/gn/2020/01-25/9069293.shtml.

2. Doctor Li Wenliang [李文亮]

Source: Baidu search result on the day Dr. Li Wenliang died.
 

On December 31, 2019, the Hubei government posted the following announcement on its website (http://www.hubei.gov.cn/zxjy/rdhy/201912/t20191231_1822539.shtml):

Wuhan Municipal Health Commission Notice on the Pneumonia Outbreak: Initially Identified as Viral Pneumonia, No Human-to-Human Transmission

Release time: 2019-12-31 14:09 Source: Wuhan Municipal Health Commission

Recently, some medical institutions found that many cases of pneumonia were connected to the South China Seafood Market. After receiving reports, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission immediately carried out case searches and retrospective investigations related to South China Seafood Market in the city’s medical and health institutions. Twenty-seven cases have been found, of which 7 are in serious condition, and the remaining cases are in stable and controllable condition, and 2 cases are expected to be discharged in the near future. The clinical manifestations of the cases were mainly fever, a few patients had difficulty breathing, and chest radiographs showed infiltrating foci of both lungs. At present, all cases have been treated in isolation, follow-up investigation and medical observation of close contacts are underway, and hygienic investigation and environmental sanitation treatment of the South China Seafood Market is underway.

Wuhan City organized consultations with clinical medicine, epidemiology, and virology experts from Tongji Hospital, the Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Wuhan Institute of Virology,the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Wuhan Infectious Disease Hospital, and the Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention. So far, no obvious person-to-person transmission has been found in the investigation, and no medical staff infection has been found. At present, the detection of the pathogen and the investigation of the cause of infection are underway.

Viral pneumonia is more common in winter and spring, and the spread can be sporadic or explosive. The main clinical manifestations are fever, body aches, a small number of breathing difficulties, and lung infiltration. Viral pneumonia is related to the virulence of the virus, the route of infection, and the age and immune status of the host. Viruses that cause viral pneumonia are influenza viruses. The others are parainfluenza viruses, cytomegaloviruses, adenoviruses, rhinoviruses, and coronaviruses. The diagnosis depends on pathogenic tests, including virus isolation, serological tests, and virus antigen and nucleic acid tests. The disease is preventable and controllable, for prevention maintain indoor air circulation, avoid closed public places and crowded places with poor air circulation, and wear masks when going out. Clinically, symptomatic treatment is the main treatment, and bed rest is required. If you have the above symptoms, especially if the fever persists, you should go to a medical institution in a timely manner. (Wuhan Municipal Health Commission)  

It appears there were two versions of this notice posted on the Hubei government website. The other version, posted at http://wjw.hubei.gov.cn/fbjd/dtyw/201912/t20191231_1822343.shtml, was no longer available as of December 8, 2020. That version was identical to the one shown above, with the following exceptions:
  • It was posted at 13:38 on December 31, 2019.
  • The title was "Wuhan Municipal Health Commission Notice Regarding the Status of Our City's Ongoing Pneumonia Outbreak." [武汉市卫健委关于当前我市肺炎疫情的情况通报]
  • The reference to the "Wuhan Municipal Health Commission" in the second sentence was the "Municipal Health Commission."
Source: CCTV News [ 央视新闻] official Weibo, December 31, 2019, https://m.weibo.cn/status/4455560046857254

At 5:38 pm on January 1, 2020, the Wuhan Public Security Bureau published the following on its official Sina Weibo:

[8 rumor spreaders were investigated and dealt with in accordance with the law] Recently, some medical institutions in our city found that they had received multiple cases of pneumonia, and the Municipal Health Commission issued a report on this. However, some Internet users published and forwarded false information on the Internet without verification, causing adverse social effects. After investigation and verification, the public security agencies summoned eight individual who violated the law and dealt with them in accordance with the law. The police reminds everyone that the Internet is not a place outside the law. Publishing information and speech on the Internet should comply with laws and regulations. The police will, in accordance with the law, investigate and deal with illegal acts of fabricating, publishing, and spreading rumors and disrupting social order, and will not tolerate them. It is hoped that the majority of Internet users will abide by relevant laws and regulations, and will not fabricate rumors, believe rumors, or spread rumors, and will build a harmonious and clean cyberspace together.

Source: David Paulk, Head of News at China's state sponsored media outlet SixthTone, https://twitter.com/davidpaulk/status/1212717577614442498

 At 8:11 pm the same day the Hubei government reposted that information on their website.


At 11:40 am on January 2, 2020, China's official state television news station broadcast this information nationwide.

Later that evening, government sponsored television news outlets in various provinces featured the story as well.

At 10:09 pm on January 02, 2020, China's state sponsored media outlet SixthTone published an English language report titled "8 Accused of ‘Spreading Rumors’ Amid Wuhan Pneumonia Outbreak." According to that report: 

When Sixth Tone called the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission on Thursday, a staff member said she did not know when the first infections were reported. Staff at the provincial and municipal disease control centers said it was “inconvenient” to comment. Several users on microblogging platform Weibo responded angrily in the comments section under the police notice. 'People spread rumors precisely because the authorities didn’t respond in a timely manner — so how can we be blamed?' one user wrote. 'Don’t I have the right to know the truth, be afraid, and try to save myself?'


In a series of tweets between January 2 and January 6, David Paulk, head of news at SixthTone, reported that that story had been "pulled" shortly after it was published.
Source: https://twitter.com/davidpaulk/status/1212720708339433480

At 10:19 am on January 31, 2020, David Paulk, head of news at SixthTone, tweeted that that article had in fact been "censored."

Source: https://twitter.com/davidpaulk/status/1223068148183728129
 
That article originally appeared at http://www.sixthtone.com/news/1005033/8-accused-of-spreading-rumors-amid-wuhan-pneumonia-outbreak. It was archived by the Internet Archive here: https://web.archive.org/web/20200103063023/http://www.sixthtone.com/news/1005033/8-accused-of-spreading-rumors-amid-wuhan-pneumonia-outbreak. 

At 12:14 pm on January 31, 2020, Dr. Li Wenliang posted the following on his personal Sina Weibo (xiaolwl - https://m.weibo.cn/detail/4466768535861595):

Hello everyone, I am Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist at Wuhan Central Hospital. On December 30th, I saw a patient's test report that detected a high-confidence positive indicator of the SARS coronavirus. In order to remind my classmates to pay attention and protect themselves, and because my classmates are also clinicians, I posted news stating that "7 cases of SARS were confirmed" in a [WeChat] group. After the news was sent, on January 3rd, the Public Security Bureau found me and I signed a letter of reprimand. I have been working normally since then. After receiving patients with novel coronavirus pneumonia, I started to have cough symptoms on January 10, fever on the 11th, and was hospitalized on the 12th. At that time, I was still thinking about why it was reports were still saying that there was no human-to-human transmission, and there was no infection among medical workers. Later, I was admitted to the ICU. I had a nucleic acid test previously, but the results never came out. After undergoing treatment, I was tested again recently, and my nucleic acid was negative, but I still have difficulty breathing and cannot be active. My parents are also in the hospital. In the ward, I also saw the support and encouragement from many Internet users, and my mood became somewhat lighter. Thanks for everyone's support. I want to clarify here that I have not had my license revoked. Please rest assured that I will actively cooperate with the treatment and strive to be discharged early! Wuhan, Wuhan Central Hospital.

大家好，我是武汉市中心医院眼科医生李文亮。12月30日，我看到一份病人的检测报告，检出SARS冠状病毒高置信度阳性指标，出于提醒同学注意防护的角度，因为我同学也都是临床医生，所以在群里发布了消息说“确诊了7例SARS”。消息发出后，1月3日，公安局找到我并签了训诫书。之后我一直正常工作，在接诊了新冠病毒肺炎患者后，1月10号我开始出现咳嗽症状，11号发热，12号住院。
 那时候我还在想通报怎么还在说没有人传人，没有医护感染，后来住进了ICU，之前做了一次核酸检测，但一直没出结果。经过治疗最近又进行一次检测，我的核酸显示为阴性了，但目前仍然呼吸困难，无法活动。我的父母也在住院中。在病房里，我也看到很多网友对我的支持和鼓励，我的心情也会轻松一些，谢谢大家的支持。在此我想特别澄清，我没有被吊销执照，请大家放心，我一定积极配合治疗，争取早日出院！ 武汉·武汉市中心医院

His post included two photos of the documents referred to in his post - the medical report, and the reprimand letter.

 The reprimand letter read as follows:

Zhongnan Precinct, Public Security Bureau of Wuchang, Wuhan

Letter of Reprimand

Wu Public (Central) No. (20200103)

Reprimandee    Li Wenliang_Gender Male_Birth Year and Month [OBSCURED IN ORIGINAL]
ID Number and Type [OBSCURED IN ORIGINAL]
Current Address (Household Registration Location) Wuhan [OBSCURED IN ORIGINAL]
Work Unit Wuhan Central Hospital

Illegal Act(s) (Time, Location, Participants, Number of Participants, Issues Reported, Consequences, etc.) On December 30, 2019, published false statements about 7 cases of SARS confirmed in the South China Fruit and Seafood Market in the WeChat group "[OBSCURED IN ORIGINAL]."

You are hereby issued a warning and reprimand in accordance with the law with respect to the illegality of your untruthful remarks on the Internet. Your behavior seriously disrupted social order. Your behavior has exceeded the boundaries of what is legally permitted and violated the relevant provisions of the Public Security Administrative Punishments Law of the People's Republic of China. This was an illegal act!

The public security agency hopes that you will actively cooperate in this matter, obey the advice of the Civil Police, and stop the illegal activities to date. Can you do it?

Answer: Yes

We hope you will calm down and reflect carefully, and we solemnly admonish you: If you adhere stubbornly to your own opinions, refuse to repent, and continue to engage in illegal activities, you will be punished by the law! Do you understand what is being said?

Response: Understand

Reprimandee: Li Wenliang
Reprimander: [OBSCURED IN ORIGINAL]
January 3, 2020

Work Unit: [Seal of the Zhongnan Precinct, Public Security Bureau of Wuchang, Wuhan]
 
武汉市公安局 武昌分局 中南路街派出所

训诫书

武公(中)字(20200103)

被训诫人            李文亮_性别男_出身年月[OBSCURED IN ORIGINAL]

身份证号各类及号码     [OBSCURED IN ORIGINAL]

 现住址(戶籍所在地)         武汉市[OBSCURED IN ORIGINAL]

工作单位            武汉市中心医院

违法行为(时间、地点、参与人、人数、反映何问题、后果等)          2019年12月30日在微信群"[OBSCURED IN ORIGINAL]"发表有关华南水果海鲜市场确诊7例SARS 的不属实的言论。

现在依法对你在互联网上发表不属实的言论的违法问题提出警示和训诫。你的行为严重扰乱了社会秩序。你的行为已超出了法律所允许的范围,违反了《中华人民共和国治安管理处罚法》的有关规定,是一种违法行为!

公安机关希望你积极配合工作,听从民警的规劝,至此中止违法行为。你能做到吗?

答: 能

我们希望你冷静下来好好反思,并郑重告诫你:如果你固执己见,不思悔改,继续进行违法活动,你将会受到法律的制裁!你听明白了吗?

答: 明白

被训诫人:  李文亮

训诫人:  [OBSCURED IN ORIGINAL]

2020年1月3

工作单位: [武汉市公安局 武昌分局 中南路街派出所]
 
On January 27, 2020, the state sponsored new outlet "The Paper" [澎湃新闻] published an article titled "A doctor in Wuhan was reprimanded for sending false information about the epidemic to a group, and was isolated after 11 days after being infected" [武汉一医生疑群内发不实疫情信息被训诫，11天后感染被隔离]. The screenshot on the left shows the article as it was archived by the Internet Archive on January 27, 2020. The screenshot on the right was taken on January 28, 2020, and shows that that URL was displaying a message saying "This article has been taken down." 


In an interview with Caixin, Li Wenliang had this to say about the reprimand:

Li Wenliang: It was the same night (December 31) at 1:30 in the morning when the screenshot was released. The Wuhan Health Commission had a meeting overnight. I was mainly called in by the leaders of our hospital to ask about the situation. After I went to work at dawn, I was interviewed by the Hospital Supervision Department again. I still asked about my situation, the source of the news, and whether I realized my mistake. After all that I didn't expect the police would come looking for me. On January 3, they called me to go to the police station to sign the "Letter of Reprimand". I had never dealt with the police before. I was also very worried. If I didn’t sign, I was afraid that I would not allowed to leave. I went through the process and signed it. I didn't tell my family about it. At that time, there was a lot of pressure, and I was worried about punishment by the hospital, which would affect my future job prospects. Later, a classmate of mine found out and helped introduce me to a journalist. I talked with the journalist directly about the situation.
 
Caixin Reporter: The police made their first report on January 1, saying that eight rumormongerss had been summoned, and you were called to the police station on January 3? Does this mean that you were  one of those eight people being dealt with?
 
Li Wenliang: This is not clear. I am not sure. What you said is possible. I just want to get well soon.
 
Caixin Reporter: The "Letter of Reprimand" given to you by the police you spread false statements on the Internet. At that time, some people believed you were spreading rumors. How do you see it?
 
Li Wenliang: I don't think it was rumormongering, because the report clearly stated it was SARS. And I just wanted to remind my classmates to pay attention, and I had no desire to cause a panic. . . .
 
Caixin Reporter: Since you don't think it was rumormongering, have you ever thought about going through judicial channels to ask for an explanation?
 
Li Wenliang: No, the judicial system may be very troublesome. I don't want to make trouble with the Public Security Bureau. I am afraid of trouble. Everyone knows that the truth is most important. . . .
 
Caixin Reporter: On January 28, the Supreme Court issued a commentary on the official account on whether the punishment of eight “rumormongers” in Wuhan was appropriate. You may be among these eight people. What thoughts did you have when you saw it?
 
Li Wenliang: After reading the Supreme Court's article, I felt greatly relieved and was not too worried about what the hospital would do. I think that a healthy society should not have only one voice, and I don't agree that public power power should be used to interfere excessively.
 
李文亮：就是这个截图传出去那天夜里（12月31日）凌晨一点半，武汉卫健委连夜开会，我主要是被我们医院领导叫过去询问情况。天亮上班后，我又被医院监察科给约谈了，还是问我情况，问消息来源，问事情经过和是否认识到错误。后边我也没想到警察会找我。1月3日，他们打电话叫我去派出所签《训诫书》，以前也没和警察打过交道，我当时也很担心，不签的话怕不能脱身，我去了走完流程就签字走了。这事我也没给家里人说，当时压力比较大，担心医院处罚，影响以后工作晋升之类的。后来我一个同学知道了，帮忙介绍了记者，我直接跟记者说了这些情况。
 
财新记者：警方第一次通报是在1月1日，称当时已传唤八名造谣人员，而你是在1月3日被叫去派出所的？这是不是说你是这八人之外被处理的人？
 
李文亮：这个就不清楚了，我不能确定，你说的也有可能，我现在只想早日康复。
 
财新记者：警方给你的《训诫书》上写的是在互联网上发表不实言论，当时还有人觉得你造谣，你怎么看？
 
李文亮：我觉得不算造谣，因为报告写得清清楚楚是SARS。而且我只是想提醒同学注意，并不想引起恐慌. . . 。
 
财新记者：既然不认为是造谣，那你想过以后会不会走司法途径来要个说法？
 
李文亮：没有，司法途径恐怕很麻烦，我不想跟公安局找麻烦，我很怕麻烦。大家知道真相更重要，平反对我而言不那么重要了，公道自在人心。. . . .
 
财新记者：1月28日，最高法院在公号发了一篇武汉八名“造谣者”处罚是否得当的评论文章。你可能是这八人之外的人，当时你看到后有什么想法？
 
李文亮：看到最高法院的文章后，我心里放松了许多，不太担心医院的处理了。我觉得一个健康的社会不该只有一种声音，不同意利用公权力过分干预。

See, "Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia 'Whistleblower' Li Wenliang: 'Truth is Most Important'" [新冠肺炎“吹哨人”李文亮：真相最重要], Caixin, February 7, 2020, http://china.caixin.com/2020-02-07/101509761.html
 
In an interview with the New York Times, Li Wenliang had this to say about the reprimand:
 
Dr. Li: If the officials had disclosed information about the epidemic earlier, I think it would have been a lot better. There should be more openness and transparency.

NYT: How did you feel when the police accused you of spreading rumors?

Dr. Li: The police believed this virus was not confirmed to be SARS. They believed I was spreading rumors. They asked me to acknowledge that I was at fault. I felt I was being wronged, but I had to accept it. Obviously I had been acting out of good will. I felt very sad seeing so many people losing their loved ones.
 
答：如果官方提前公布疫情信息我想会好很多。应该跟（更）公开透明。
问：警方训诫您的时候他们有没有说为什么在自己的同学微信群里面分享这样的信息是错误的，是造谣呢？他们认为到底哪里您做错了？他们当时怎么说的？
答：（警方）认为不能确定是SARS，认为我造谣，让我认识错误。
问：您当时是什么感受？您觉得您错了吗？
答：觉得比较委屈，但是只能接受。明明出于好意，而且报告上写的很清楚。
 
See,  "He Warned of Coronavirus. Here’s What He Told Us Before He Died" [对话疫情“吹哨人”：李文亮医生生前采访实录], New York Times, February 7, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/07/world/asia/Li-Wenliang-china-coronavirus.html, https://cn.nytimes.com/china/20200208/li-wenliang-china-coronavirus.
 
At 12:57 am on February 7, 2020, the state sponsored Global Times tweeted that Li Wenliang was under emergency treatment.
 
Source: https://twitter.com/globaltimesnews/status/1225463450354110466

Both of the screenshots below were taken around 1:20 am on February 7, 2020. The screenshot on the left shows that a search for "political emergency treatment" [政治性抢救] returned results that included the hashtag "Li Wenliang passed away" [李文良去世]. The screenshot on the right shows that a search for "Li Wenliang political emergency treatment" [李文良 政治性抢救] returned no results.

 
At 2:58 am on February 7, 2020 the Wuhan Health Commission published an announcement online that Li Wenliang had passed away. 
 

 
The screenshot below was taken at 11:16 am on February 7, and shows the hashtag "Li Wenliang passed away" [李文良去世] was at #21 on Sina Weibo's trending keywords list.
 

This screenshot shows Baidu search results for Li Wenliang's phrase "a healthy society should not have only one voice" [一个健康的社会不该只有一种声音] on February 8, 2020. The top result is a post on Baidu's on PostBar [贴吧] social media platform. 

The screenshot on the left below was taken on February 8, 2020, and shows that first Baidu search result as it appeared at that time. The screenshot on the right below was taken on February 9, 2020, and shows the same URL now displays a notice saying "Very sorry, this post has been deleted."

The screenshot on the left below shows Baidu search results for "Li Wenliang" as they appeared on February 9, 2020. The screenshot on the right shows the search results for "Li Wenliang" as they appeared on February 15, 2020. The search results outlined in red are identical, and appeared to have remained unchanged throughout that period. The search results were all from sources under the direct control of the central government in Beijing.


The screenshot on the left below shows the search results for "Li Wenliang" as they appeared on February 14, 2020. The screenshot on the right below shows the search results for "Li Wenliang" as they appeared on Qihoo on the same day. Search results outlined in the same came are from the same source.


On March 4, 2020, Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese ambassador to the United Kingdom, posted the following on his Twitter account regarding Li Wenliang: "China has made efforts to ensure transparency. We try our best to be open and responsible, which is praised by WHO. There’s no such a thing as China cracking down on people who gave away information."
 
On March 11, 2020, the state sponsored media outlet Caixin published a report in English that stated:
 
A Central Hospital department head blamed authorities for endangering lives by spreading false information."The false information released by the relevant departments — claiming the disease was controllable and would not spread from human-to-human — left hundreds of doctors and nurses in the dark, doing all they could to treat patients without knowing about the epidemic," the department head told Caixin. "And even when they fell ill, they could not report it. They could not alert their colleagues and the public in time despite their sacrifice. This is the most painful loss and lesson." 

See: "Update: Wuhan Doctors Say Colleagues Died in Vain Amid Official Cover-Up," Caixin, March 11, 2020, https://www.caixinglobal.com/2020-03-11/wuhan-doctors-say-colleagues-died-in-vain-amid-official-coverup-101526650.html.

3. Lawyer Chen Qiushi [陳秋實]

Chen Qiushi obtain his PRC law license in 2016 and was an attorney at the LongAn Law Firm in Beijing (隆安律师事务所).

Archived version of Chen Qiushi's bio from his law firm's website. Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20190904025810/http://www.longanlaw.com/professionals/9337.html/
 
At 12:34 am on January 25, 2020, Chen Qiushi posted on Twitter that he was in Wuhan, and included a video of him saying: "I will use my lens to personally witness and record all the real situations that happen during this disaster prevention and quarantine process in Wuhan" [我会用我的镜头来亲自见证和记录武汉这次防灾检疫过程中所有发生的真实情况]. 
 
Over the next several days Chen Qiushi posted images and videos of what was happening in Wuhan. For example, he posted this at 6:23 pm on February 4, 2020:
 
We have collected enough evidence to prove that Wuhan's medical care, first aid, and funeral services have been overloaded. In the future, I will not shoot and track death and cremation information. Because everyone should already have passed judgment in their hearts, I really can't bear to disturb the deceased again and again. Please rest in peace~~
 
On February 7, 2020 a video titled "[Posted Seeking Help on Behalf of Others] Chen Qiushi's mother calls on Wuhan netizens to find Qiushi's whereabouts! We lost contact with citizen reporter Chen Qiushi after he went to Fangcang Hospital" [【求助代发】陈秋实妈妈呼吁武汉网友寻找秋实下落！公民记者陈秋实去方舱医院后失联] was posted on Chen Qiushi's Youtube channel.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7MVfqVM0Ag

These screenshots show that on February 9, 2020, Baidu began censoring search results for "Lawyer Chen Qiushi" [陈秋实律师]. The screenshot on the left was taken on the morning of February 9, and shows Baidu returned 140,000 results. The screenshot on the right was taken in the evening of the same day, and shows Baidu only returning 28 search results.

 

4. Beijing University Legal Scholar He Weifang [贺卫方]

Source: https://business.sohu.com/s2004/zhishifenzi50.shtml - Image shows He Weifang (bottom right hand image) listed as one of "50 Public Intellectuals Who Influence China" [ 影响中国的公共知识分子50人] published in the September 2004 edition of the Southern People Weekly [南方人物周刊]
 
On February 17, 2020, images of a hand-written note signed by He Weifang, Director of Peking University Judicial Research Center, began appearing on social media platforms and websites in China. Here are the images.

The title of the note was "Can This Heavy Toll Be Exchanged for Freedom of the Press?"[惨重的代价能否换来新闻自由?]. Some excerpts:
 
He [Xi Jinping] first issued verbal instructions on January 7 and written instructions on January 20, and he issued "clear demands" on January 22. On the first day of the first lunar month of the Gengzi year, that is on January 25, the Politburo Standing Committee convened to "re-study, re-deploy, and re-mobilize" to fight the epidemic, and decided to establish a central leadership team for the epidemic.

Let us not mention that January 7 was already a month into the outbreak of the epidemic, or that it is difficult to understand what the content of the deployment and mobilization was. Here is a shocking fact: the content of the statements made on January 7 concerning the Wuhan epidemic seems to have been handled by the official media in the manner of "retain it within the walls of the imperial palace and do not publicize it," and  the outside world was left completely unaware. Was the speaker aware that he had been "blocked," or that it was inappropriate to let the public know? After all is said and done, the root of the matter lies in a lack of freedom.

If newspapers and television stations in Wuhan and Hubei could report the epidemic freely and responsibly, why should they rely on this bureaucratic system of mutual blame? Why do so many people in Wuhan and the whole country get infected and suffer such misfortune? !

Alas, I've said enough. I hope this painful price can make those in authority realize: Without freedom of the press, not only is are the lives of the people made difficult, but there is no trust in the government, much less modern governance capabilities and systems.

他最早发出指示是在1月7日，1月20日作出批示，1月22日又发出“明确要求”。庚子年正月初一，即1月25日，再召开政治局常委会对抗击疫情“再研究、再部署、再动员”，并决定成立中央应对疫情领导小组。

我们姑且不说1月7日已经是疫情爆发一个月之后，也难以理解部署、动员的内容究竟如何，一个令人震惊的事实是：1月7日讲话涉及武汉疫情的内容似乎被官媒作了“留中不发”的处理，外界根本无从知晓。讲话者是否知道他遭到了“屏蔽”，抑或讲的内容不适合让公众知道？说到底，根子在于无自由。

如果武汉、湖北的报纸、电视可以就疫情进行自由而负责的报导，何至于要依赖这相互诿责的官僚体系？何至于武汉以及全国要这么多的人受感染、遭厄运？！

唉，不多说了。但愿这惨痛的代价能够让手握权柄者醒悟：没有新闻自由，就不仅生民多难，而且政府亦无信，更谈不上现代化的治理能力与体系。

The screenshot below was taken on February 20, 2020, and shows that a search for the title of He's letter on Sina Weibo returned no content.



The screenshot on the left below was taken in the afternoon of February 20, 2020, and shows that the first page of Baidu results included 10 results, and the first result was a web page about He's letter (outlined in blued). The screenshot on the right was taken later that same day, and shows that the first page of Baidu results included only nine results, and the first result had been removed.


The screenshot on the left below was taken in the afternoon of February 20, 2020, and shows that a search for the URL for the first Baidu result retrieved the relevant web page. The screenshot on the right was taken later that same day, and shows a search for that URL returned no results.
 

The screenshot below was taken on February 27, 2020, and shows that the relevant web page was still available, even though Baidu was no longer displaying it in its search results.


The screenshots below were taken in January 2015, and show that at that time:
  • A search on Baidu web search for "He Weifang" returned over 4 million results, including results from social media (blog.sina.com.cn) and foreign (wikipedia.org) websites (outlined in blue).
  • A search on Baidu Zhidao for "He Weifang" returned over 292,000 results.
  • Baidu users had established a PostBar (Tieba) forum on "He Weifang."
The screenshots below were taken in December, 2020, and show that at that time:
  • A search on Baidu web search for "He Weifang" returned over 700,000 results, with no results from social media or foreign websites.
  • A search on Baidu Zhidao for "He Weifang" returned no results.
  • Baidu has banned users from establishing a PostBar (Tieba) forum on "He Weifang." 

5. Tsinghua University Legal Scholar Xu Zhangrun [许章润]

Source: Screenshot of Xu Zhangrun's bio page from Tsinghua University's website
 
On February 4, 2020, an essay titled "When Fury Overcomes Fear" [愤怒的人民已不再恐惧] by Tsinghua University law professor Xu Zhangrun appeared online. Some excerpts (translation by Geremie R. Barmé, https://www.chinafile.com/reporting-opinion/viewpoint/viral-alarm-when-fury-overcomes-fear):

Unlimited government budgets have funded technological developments that are turning China into a mega data totalitarian state; we are already subjected to a 1984 style of total surveillance and control. This state of affairs has enabled what could be called “WeChat terrorism” which directly targets the country’s vast online population. Through the taxes the masses are, in fact, funding a vast Internet police force dedicated to overseeing, supervising, and tracking everyone and all of the statements and actions they author. The Chinese body politic is riven by a new canker, but it is an infection germane to the system itself. As a result, people live in a state of constant anxiety; they are keenly aware that the Internet terrorism is by no means merely limited to personal WeChat accounts being suspended or shut down entirely, nor to the larger enterprise of banning entire WeChat groups. Everyone knows that the online terror may readily escape the virtual realm to become overtly physical: That is when the authorities use what they have learned online to send in the police in real-time. Widespread anxiety leads to relentless self-censorship; people are beset by nagging fears about what inexplicable punishment may suddenly befall them.

As a result, the potential for meaningful public discussion is stifled. By the same token, the very channels of communication that should in normal circumstances exist for the dissemination of public information are choked off, and a meaningful, civic early-warning system that could play a crucial role at times of local or national emergency is thereby outlawed. In its place we have an evolving form of military tyranny that is underpinned by an ideology that I call “Legalistic-Fascist-Stalinism”, one that is cobbled together from strains of traditional harsh Chinese Legalist thought wedded to an admix of the Leninist-Stalinist interpretation of Marxism along with the “Germano-Aryan” form of fascism.
 
因其动用奠立于无度财政汲取的科技手段，这便形成了“1984”式“大数据极权主义”。缘此而来，其“微信恐怖主义”直接针对亿万国民，用纳税人的血汗豢养着海量网警，监控国民的一言一行，堪为这个体制直接对付国民的毒瘤。而动辄停号封号，大面积封群，甚至动用治安武力，导致人人自危，在被迫自我审查之际，为可能降临的莫名处罚担忧。由此窒息了一切公共讨论的思想生机，也扼杀了原本应当存在的社会传播与预警机制。由此，“基于法日斯主义的军功僭主政治”渐次成型，却又日益表现出“组织性失序”和“制度性无能”，其非结构性与解结构性。
 
The screenshots below were taken on February 5, 2020, and show the following results of a search for the title of Xu Zhangrun's essay on China's top three search engines:
  • Baidu: No results.
  • Qihoo: Results restricted to a white list of about 10 websites under the control of the central government, none of which are related to Xu Zhangrun's essay.
  • Sogou: Results restricted to a white list of about 10 websites under the control of the central government, none of which are related to Xu Zhangrun's essay.
 
 
The screenshots below were taken in  July, 2018, and show that a search for "Xu Zhangrun" on Baidu returned over 200,000 results, including results from social media websites (like blog.sina.com.cn) and non-government run websites (like aisixiang.com).

The screenshots below were taken in December 2020, and show that a search for "Xu Zhangrun" on Baidu returned over 57,000 results, with no results from social media websites or non-government run websites. Instead, Baidu has restricted results to a white list of about 10 websites under the control of the central government.

6. Former Lawyer Xu Zhiyong [许志永]

Soucre: "Mr. Fashion"  [时尚先生] official blog, archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20090809125245/http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_47404fc70100efcv.html

Xu Zhiyong was a lecturer at the Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications and was one of the founders of the civil society groups Open Constitution Initiative ("Gong Meng" 公盟) and the Chinese News Citizens' Movement (中国新公民运动). In the August 2009 edition of China's Esquire Magazine [时尚先生] Xu said:
 
I hope that our country can be a free and happy one. No person need betray their conscience. Everyone needs only rely on their talent and character to find their position in life. A simple and happy society, where the goodness of humanity may find its apex, and its malice finds its nadir, where honesty, trust, kindness, and helping one another becomes commonplace, where there is not so much anger and anxiety, and there is a pure smile on every face.

我希望我们是个自由、幸福的国家。每个人不需要违背良心，只要靠自己的才能和品德就可以找到合适的位置；一个简单而幸福的社会，人性的善得到最大的张扬，恶得到最大的抑制；诚实、信用、友爱、互助将成为我们生活的常态，没有那么多烦恼和愤怒，每一个人脸上是纯真的笑容。 

On February 4, 2020, Xu Zhiyong published an open letter dated January 20 entitled "A Written Admonishment Urging Retirement" [劝退书]. Some excerpts:

The first infected person appeared on December 1, 2019; by the end of the month Wuhan’s hospitals were full of them. Yet the local police intimidated the eight doctors who tried to raise the alarm and CCTV set about “dispelling rumors.” These acts of connivance were aimed at preventing the truth from getting out. By January 12, 2020 at the latest, when the Center for Disease Control and Prevention published details of the genetic makeup of the virus, you should have been completely aware of what was going on but you continued to delay releasing information about the actual situation. Your prevarication led to an unconfined and explosive spread of what is now a nationwide epidemic. The lessons of 2003 are right there in front of your eyes. Do you really mean to tell us that you are completely out of touch and lacking any sensitivity to these facts?

2019年12月1日出现感染者，12月底武汉医院已经爆满，公安训诫恐吓八位医生，央视辟谣，官家合谋封杀真相。至少1月12日国家疾病预防控制中心公布病毒基因组时，您应该已知，却迟迟不批准公开真相，致疫情爆发举国灾祸。2003前车之鉴近在眼前，您就一点敏感性没有？

 
On February 15, 2020 Xu Zhiyong was taken into detention by Chinese authorities.
 
The screenshot on the left below was taken on January 2, 2020, and shows that a search for "Xu Zhiyong" returned over 230,000 results, including results from social media (blogchina.com, Sina Weibo) and foreign (canadainternational.gc.ca) websites. The screenshot on the right below was taken on January 3, 2020, and shows the same search on Baidu returns only 84 results, all from about 10 websites operated by the central government.

More coverage of Xu Zhiyong on this blog can be found here:

7. Businessman Ren Zhiqiang [任志强]

Source: Phoenix News

Prior to 2013 Ren Zhiqiang was a member of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. On February 15, 2015, the websites of several mainland China news outlets published an article entitled "Ren Zhiqiang: Our Government Basically Does Not Care About Protecting Private Property" (任志强：我们的政府根本就不想保护私有财产). Some excerpts:

GDP is falling. Why is it some are some investments moving abroad? Besides us, are others also investing abroad? So what are the reasons underlying falling private investment? Perhaps the main reasons are that the government has no credibility, violates its contracts, and appropriates private property. In addition, the government puts excessive emphasis on the gun and the knife and opposes Western value systems. The winds of the Cultural Revolution are picking up again. Furthermore, when it comes protecting private property, they talk about rule of law, when in fact the rule of law they emphasize is the power of government.

GDP不下降。为什么这一部分投到外面去了呢？除了我们以外，是不是还有别的部分也投到外面去了？所以民间投资下降的背后原因是什么？原因可能是政府没有信誉，违约和占用了民间资产的比例很大。另外是政府过度强调了枪杆子和刀把子，反对西方的价值观，文革之风又起来了。还有就是对于私有产权的保护，说是法治，但是实际上在强调了法治的时候是政府强势。

The article was deleted from those websites, and for the next several years Ren Zhiqiang's ability to publish on PRC based websites was gradually restricted and he became of target of the Party and the government. See:

In early March, 2020 an essay attributed to Ren Zhiqiang began circulating online. Here are some excerpts from the untitled essay:

The reality shown by this epidemic is that the Party defends its own interests, the government officials defend their own interests, and the monarch only defends the status and interests of the core. Precisely this type of system is capable of a situation where only the ruler’s order is obeyed with no regard for the people. When the epidemic had already broken out, they wouldn’t dare admit it to the public without the king’s command. They wouldn’t dare announce the facts of the matter, and instead used the method of catching and criticizing “rumors” to restrict the spread of truth, resulting in the disease’s uncontainable spread. . . . 

China’s ruling party concealed the cause of the outbreak, then using the power of the entire country, followed up by sealing a city, deceiving the trust of the WHO, and winning international praise. But, it was harder to again deceive the Chinese people caught in the epidemic. Those who live in a democratic country with freedom of speech perhaps don’t know the pain of the lack of a free press and free expression. But Chinese people know that this epidemic and all the unnecessary suffering it brought came directly from a system that strictly prohibits the freedom of press and speech.  

这次疫情中可以看到的现实是，党在维护党的利益，官在维护官的利益，君则只是在维护一尊的核心地位与利益。正是这种体制造成了，只听君命而不顾民情的情况。当疫情已经发生时，却不敢在没有君令的情况下，向民众公布疫情。不敢公布事实与真相，反而用抓批“谣言”的方式，限制和阻止真相的传播，才造成了不可控制的传播。. . . .

中国执政党用隐瞒前期疫情暴发的原因，靠后续封城的举国之力，骗取了世卫组织的信任，并赢得了国际的称赞。但身历其中的中国人却难以再次欺骗。生活在言论自由的民主国家的人，也许并不知道没有新闻自由与言论自由的痛苦，但中国人知道这次疫情的暴发和所引发的一切本不应出现的痛苦，都来自于这个严禁新闻自由与言论自由的体制。

Translation: China Digital Times - https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2020/03/translation-essay-by-missing-property-tycoon-ren-zhiqiang/. A full translation can be found here: https://web.archive.org/web/20200408113951/http://credibletarget.net/notes/RZQ.

Ren Zhiqiang was detained on March 12, 2020, and sentenced to 18 years in prison on September 22, 2020, for financial crimes.

The screenshot below on the left was taken on March 15, 2020, and shows that a search for "Ren Zhiqiang" on Baidu returned over 13 million results, mostly from websites licensed by, but not under the direct control of, the government (such Phoenix, Netease, and Tencent). The screenshot on the right was taken on March 16, 2020, and shows that the same search returns over 13,000 results, and all of the organic search results are from about 10 websites under the direct control over the central government (The People's Daily and China Radio International).

8. Zhang Zhan [张展]

 

On December 28, 2020, a court in Beijing sentenced Zhang Zhan to four years imprisonment for disturbing the peace in a public venue based on the following:

[D]uring the critical period of Wuhan's prevention and control of the novel coronavirus infectious pneumonia epidemic, defendant Zhang Zhan in her capacity as a witness repeatedly used WeChat, "Twitter" (Tui Te), "YouTube" (You Guan) and other Internet media to indiscriminately fabricate and publish documentary and commentary articles and information in text, video, and other formats to distort the circumstances of Wuhan's prevention and control of the novel coronavirus infectious pneumonia epidemic. In addition, she accepted interviews with foreign media Radio Free Asia and The Epoch Times and thereby led to a large number of relevant false information to be spread on domestic and foreign information networks, newspapers ,and magazines, which in fact caused a large number of Internet users to view, comment, and forward. It confused viewers and caused severe disruption of public order, and her actions constitute the commission of the crime of disturbing the peace.

被告人张展在武汉市防控新型冠状病毒感染肺炎疫情的关键期间，以亲历者的身份多次通过微信、“twitter”(推特)、“YouTube”(油管)等网络媒介以文字、视频等方式肆意编造、发布内容为歪曲武汉市防控新型冠状病毒感染肺炎疫情情况的记录性、评论性文章及信息并以此接受境外媒体“自由亚洲电台”、“大纪元”的采访，导致相关虚假信息在境内外信息网络、 报刊媒体上大量散布，并实际引发大量网民观看、评论、转发， 混淆视听，造成公共秩序严重混乱，其行为已构成寻衅滋事罪。 

See: Translation: Judgment in the Case of Citizen Journalist Zhang Zhan's Reporting on the Novel Coronavirus Outbreak in Wuhan, https://blog.feichangdao.com/2021/01/covid-zhang-zhan-wuhan-journalist-judgment.html. 

The screenshot below was taken on December 30, 2020, and shows that a search on Baidu for "Zhang Zhan" returned three results relevant to Zhang's conviction - two from Netease (which were deleted within 48 hours) and one from Phoenix News - a copy of a Sina Weibo post by Hu Xijin, editor of the state sponsored Global Times, titled "Western Political and Public Opinion Powers Please Stop Your Continued Harming of Zhang Zhan" [请西方政治和舆论力量不要再继续害张展了]. 


That post was almost identical to Hu's op-ed that appeared on the Global Times' website a few hours later in Chinese and English:

Some excerpts from the English language editorial:

Zhang went to Wuhan as a "citizen journalist" in February. There, she published her so-called independent reports on social media platforms both at home and abroad. In October 2019, she publicly supported the protest in Hong Kong against the then already withdrawn anti-extradition bill and was temporarily detained for holding an umbrella that read: "The Communist Party of China should step down."

Western public opinion appreciates her values and her "bravery." But I believe she will hit the dead end of the Chinese legal framework if she keeps doing this for long. 

. . . .

In fact, during Wuhan's lockdown, many journalists were there reporting the real situation. Various kinds of videos were constantly released by ordinary residents on social media platforms. Since late January, the information surrounding Wuhan has been fairly adequate. With so many people writing and photographing the real situation, some of these works directly led to relevant officials being held accountable. Meanwhile, some of the articles and photos got the situation wrong, sparking fierce controversy. But apart from the online squabble, none led to serious consequences.

Why was Zhang the only one sentenced to 4-year imprisonment for picking quarrels and provoking trouble? I hope she can get out of what the Western ideology instilled in her mind. 

at
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Thursday, February 11, 2021

Examples of Censorship and Sanctions of Speech About Public Events in China

1. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

According to China's state sponsored media, China's government attempted to cover up the scope of SARS infections during the 2003 outbreak. For example:

On April 3, former Health Minister Zhang Wenkang announced at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office that Beijing had reported 12 SARS cases and 3 deaths by March 31, while repeating again and again that China had effectively controlled the spread of SARS in relevant areas. Minister Zhang, cheerful and smiling, deeply impressed audiences with his comments to a foreign photojournalist who was wearing a gauze mask at the conference: "You are safe here whether you wear the gauze mask or not."  . . . .

On April 10, the World Health Organization (WHO) publicly criticized Beijing's epidemic reporting system, pointing out that few hospitals in Beijing had daily SARS case reports. WHO sent experts to Beijing for investigation. On April 11, Beijing was designated as an infected area. However, the Ministry of Health didn't publish the news. Instead, it maintained the previous day's optimistic statement, saying, "The published epidemic information that day included all diagnosed cases in local and army hospitals." . . . .

On April 20, Vice Minister of Health Gao Qiang announced at a press conference that Beijing reported 339 diagnosed SARS cases and 402 suspected cases. On the same day, Xinhua News Agency said that the CPC Central Committee had dismissed former Health Minister Zhang Wenkang and former Beijing Mayor Meng Xuenong.

See, "A Chinese Doctor's Extraordinary April in 2003," Sanlian Life Weekly, No. 23, translated by China.org.cn staff, June 13, 2003, http://www.china.org.cn/english/2003/Jun/66953.htm.

Besides the lack of experience and an emergency response system at the time of the SARS outbreak, a major reason that the disease took such a big toll on people's lives was the official coverup.

In March 2003, Tong, the respiratory physician, was asked to consult on SARS patients in Beijing along with other doctors. There were dozens, if not hundreds of cases, at the time in Beijing. But the public knew very little of what was really going on.

"I knew that things like this couldn't be kept a secret forever; the truth would come out eventually," said Tong.

There were already rumors around the country about the disease and some people were stocking up on masks, vinegar and cough medicines. But accurate, authoritative information was scarce.

The authorities didn't address the issue until early April, when Zhang Wenkang, health minister at the time, downplayed the situation at a press conference and said there were over 1,000 cases in China and only 13 cases in Beijing. He reassured the public that the disease was under control.

The officials didn't face the truth until Jiang Yanyong, a retired doctor from the PLA General Hospital (also known as 301 Hospital) in Beijing, blew the whistle and told Time magazine that there were many more cases than officials had disclosed. On April 20, health officials updated the number of cases in Beijing to 339 and over 1,800 in the country.

It was an attempt to maintain stability and harmony prior to the annual legislative meetings, analysts later sought to explain the coverups.

See, "Legacy of the SARS outbreak," February 21, 2013, https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/763304.shtml

At that time China's state sponsored media hailed Jiang Yanyong's whistleblowing: "Referring to his speaking out, Professor Jiang said: 'I believe what I did as a doctor has played a certain role in combating the epidemic.'" People's Daily, May 21, 2003,  http://en.people.cn/200305/21/eng20030521_117004.shtml. But as shown by these screenshots below taken on March 8, 2015, Baidu was still censoring search results for "Jiang Yanyong" [蒋彦永], and had banned users from establishing a forum to discuss him.


During 2003, while it was praising Jiang Yanyong, China's government punished other people for posting online about SARS. For example:

  • An April 23, 2003 People's Daily report titled "Person Detained for Spreading Rumors of an 'unknown virus spreading in Beijing'" [网上散布'北京有不明疫情蔓延'谣言者被捕] stated: "On April 11, a message posted on the Internet with the signature "Steven Shen" stated that "an epidemic that has not yet been diagnosed" is spreading in Beijing, and has "taken the lives of 143 people." This information is purely a rumor. Beijing has never had an "unknown epidemic" spread. . . . According to the provisions of Article 291 of the Criminal Law, the public security organs have detained and reviewed the perpetrators suspected of fabricating and disseminating the harmful information. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), on April 10 "A growing number of investigative media reports suggest that cases in Beijing military hospitals are not being frankly reported." See: "Update 95 - SARS: Chronology of a serial killer," July 4, 2003. https://www.who.int/csr/don/2003_07_04/en/. 
  • On May 3, 2003, police in Beijing detained Huang Qunwei for posting articles on the Internet between April 25-27 with titles such as ""Absolutely Reliable News, Shanghai Concealed a Large Number of SARS Cases" and "China has Officially Entered an Economic Crisis Due to SARS." The government would later sentence him to three years imprisonment for fabricating and intentionally publicizing false terrorist information. See, State v. Huang Qunwei, (2003) First Intermediate First Instance No. 14991 [黄群威刑事判决书,（2003）一中刑初字第1499号]. According to the WHO's "Chronology," on April 30, "China, accounting for 3460 probable cases of the global total of 5663, now has more cases than the rest of the world combined."

2.  The 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake

In 2008, China's government censored information and punished several people who shared information about the May 12, 2008 earthquake in Wenchuan, Sichuan. For example:

  • China's search engines censored search results relating to the earthquake.  For example, this  screenshot was taken on June 16, 2008, and shows a search on Yahoo.cn for "Wenchuan Earthquake Tangshan Earthquake" [汶川地震 唐山地震] returned no results, just a notice saying "The keywords you entered may implicate content that does not comply with relevant laws and regulations." [你输入的关键字可能涉及不符合相关法律法规的内容]. 
Similarly, this screenshot was taken on June 17, 2008, and shows a search on Baidu for "Earthquake Tofu Dregs Construction" [汶川地震 唐山地震] returned no results, just a notice saying "Search results may implicate content that does not comply with relevant laws, regulations, and policies, and have not been displayed." [搜索结果可能涉及不符合相关法律规定和政策的内容，未予显示].
  • According to a July 29, 2019 Xinhua report published on the China Daily website titled "12-year sentence for China dissident on state secrets charge": "Huang [Qi], who founded a website documenting official rights abuses, has been jailed twice before, including in 2008 after advocating for parents whose children were killed in a massive earthquake in the southwestern province of Sichuan. Thousands of students died when their shoddily built schools collapsed, but the government has never made public the results of any investigation or held anyone accountable."
  • According to an August 13, 2009 China Daily report titled "Activist on trial for subversion": "Tan Zuoren, who had been investigating the deaths of students in last year's Sichuan earthquake, stood trial yesterday for subversion. Tan, a 55-year-old local resident, was accused of telling lies to foreign media organizations after the quake and so 'greatly staining the image of the government and the Party,' according to the indictment offered by Tan's lawyer Pu Zhiqiang." See, State v. Tan Zuoren, (2009) Cheng Xing Criminal First No. 273 [谭作人刑事判决书, （2009)成刑初字第273号].
  • On May 18, 2008, Guo Quan was subjected to 10 days administrative detention for using the "5.12" Wenchuan earthquake to assemble dozens of fictitious experts on the Internet on May 13, 2008 in a "China New Democracy Party Disaster Relief Committee" to spread rumors and disturb public order. See, State v. Guo Quan, (2009) Su Intermediate Criminal Second First Instance No. 00021 [郭泉刑事判决书, (2009)宿中刑二初字第0002号].

On May 12, 2011, on the third anniversary of the Wenchuan earthquake, the Southern Metropolitan Daily, published by the Propaganda Department of the Guangdong Communist Party Committee, published an editorial entitled "Cherishing Their Memory as We are Borne on the River of Time. "  [躺在时间的河流上怀念他们]

In our hearts, we lowered our flags to half mast for them. On the day of mourning we called them home and wished them peace. We gathered together all the human evidence of them we could. We read their names together. We promised that we would bear them constantly in mind, never forgetting, over and over again. We did so much, and yet we did too little. Those of you who were lost and did not return, where are you? Can the light we kindle shine across your path? We cannot do more. We can but present steel zodiacs, and offer up porcelain sunflower seeds, symbolic memorials to your lives once so tangible. What else would you wish us to do? 

 The editorial contained several oblique references to Ai Weiwei:

  • "Read their names together": a reference to Ai Weiwei's project to post the names of the school children who died in the earthquake on Twitter on their birthdays.
  • "Steel zodiacs": a reference to the installation of twelve zodiac animal heads by Ai Weiwei called "Circle of Animals Zodiac Heads." It is an outdoor public sculpture exhibition that opened in May 2011 at the Pulitzer Fountain at the Grand Army Plaza in New York City.
  • "Porcelain sunflower seeds": a reference to the installation of millions of hand painted porcelain sunflower seeds by Ai Weiwei that opened at the Tate Modern in 2010.

On the Southern Metropolitan Daily's online edition, the title of the article with the link to the
article was replaced with the characters for "Advertisement" [广告].

The screenshots below show that the online article itself was replaced with a notice saying "Very sorry, this article has already been deleted! "  [很抱歉,该文章已经被删除!]

(Translation of the article by David Bandurski of the China Media Project - http://cmp.hku.hk/2011/05/12/12235)

3. Babies Poisoned by Melamine in Milk Formula

In 2008, 290,000 infants had to be treated for renal complications and 6 others died as a direct result of the  deliberate contamination of infant formula and related dairy products with melamine to make it appear to contain more protein.  21 people were sentenced for their involvement, and two received death sentences. At least four government officials were fired in connection with the scandal. See, "4 officials sacked following baby milk scandal," China Daily, September 17, 2008, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-09/17/content_7034236.htm.

In 2010, Zhao Lianhai was sentenced to 2 1/2 years imprisonment for "disturbing social order" after he started the "Home for Kidney Stone Babies" (结石宝宝之家, jieshibaobao.com) website and attempted to lead parents in getting restitution and treatment for their children who had been poisoned by Sanlu's melamine-tainted milk powder. China's search engines and social media websites censored information about Zhao's case. See, http://blog.feichangdao.com/2013/08/searching-for-information-about-milk.html. 

4. The 2011 Wenzhou Train Collision

On July 23, 2011 when two high-speed trains collided on a viaduct in the suburbs of Wenzhou, Zhejiang. The two trains derailed each other, and four cars fell off the viaduct leaving 40 passengers dead and 172 injured. According to a Global Times report published a year later:

Although boasting one of the fastest high-speed trains in the world, the way the Ministry of Railways (MOR) disposed of the wreckage and delayed the results of an investigation into the crash sparked public fury and widespread doubt as to the wisdom of the massive investment in high-speed railways. . . . The investigation report, which was released five months after the deadly crash, blamed the cause on flaws in the trains' operation control system and on an inadequate emergency response by railway authorities. A total of 54 people were identified as being accountable for the crash and received disciplinary punishment. Liu Zhijun and Zhang Shuguang, the former railway minister and deputy chief engineer of the ministry respectively, were mainly said as being to blame and were placed under investigation last year for alleged "severe violation of discipline." But the charges against them are not directly related to the train crash.

See, "Trained the wrong way," Global Times, July 19, 2012, https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/722139.shtm. 

According to a October 18, 2014 Global Times report titled "Railway official sentenced to 'death with reprieve'" https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/886953.shtml:

The Beijing No.2 Intermediate People's Court also deprived Zhang Shuguang, former head of the now defunct Railway Ministry's transportation bureau and deputy chief engineer, of political rights for life and confiscated all his property. According to the court, Zhang took bribes worth more than 47 million yuan from 14 companies between 2000 and 2011, when he was serving in a variety of positions in the ministry. In particular, some 18.5 million yuan was offered by Wuhan Zheng Yuan Railway Electric Co Ltd under the guise of real estate purchases and membership applications to the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In exchange, Zhang would help with contracts related to the sale of trains or parts and the bidding of projects, according to the court.

On July 31 and August 1, 2011, several news outlets published reports claiming Zhang Shuguang [张曙光] was involved in corruption. The screenshots below show that they were deleted within 24 hours.


On July 26, 2011 author and blogger Han Han (韩寒) posted an essay titled "A Country Off the Rails" [脱节的国度] on his Sina Blog . Some excerpts:

You keep asking why they run around like a bunch of lunatics, but they feel that they are paragons of restraint and patience.
You keep asking why they say white is black and black is white, but they feel that they are just telling it like it is.
You keep asking why they shield the murderers, but they feel ashamed they have to give the shaft to their friends-with-benefits.
You keep asking why they cover up the truth, but they feel that they are already very transparent and open.
You keep asking why their lives are so corrupt, but they feel that they lead spartan and simple lives.
You keep asking why they are so arrogant, but they feel that they are profiles in humility.

You feel aggrieved, and they also feel aggrieved. They think that under the rule of the Qing government, ordinary people couldn't even look at TV sets. Now TV sets have entered thousands of households. What great progress this is!
 
They feel that they built this, and they built that, and you don’t care what happens in the process and you don’t care who it is for, as long as you get to use it. You used to take a day and a night to take the train from Shanghai to Beijing. Now, as long as you don’t get struck by lightning, you'll be there in five hours. Why are you not grateful? Why are you so full of doubts?

. . . .

The reason why the country does not progress is because many among them have been measuring themselves by the Mao Zedong and Stalin era, so they always feel that they are too wronged, too open, too fair, too kind, too low profile. It's not easy. They regard the pace of technology enveloping the times as an illusion of their own initiative and openness, so the more you criticize him, the more he desires totalitarianism, and the more you engage in him, the more he misses Mao.
 
A friend in State machine told me: you people are never satisfied. If a literati like you had been around forty years ago, you would have been shot. Now you tell me whether this era is progressive or regressive.

I said, you people are never satisfied. If you offered this point of view ninety years ago, you would have been laughed to death. So you tell me, when all is said and done are we living in an age of progress or what.

你一直问，他们何以如此的丧心病狂，他们却觉得自己已经非常的克制忍让。
你一直问，他们何以如此的颠倒黑白，他们却觉得自己已经非常的公正坦率。
你一直问，他们何以如此的包庇凶手，他们却觉得自己已经非常的愧对炮友。
你一直问，他们何以如此的掩盖真相，他们却觉得自己已经非常的透明开放。
你一直问，他们何以如此的生活腐化，他们却觉得自己已经非常的艰苦朴素。
你一直问，他们何以如此的骄横傲慢，他们却觉得自己已经非常的姿态低下。

你觉得自己很委屈，他们也觉得自己很委屈，他们认为，在清政府的统治下，老百姓连电视机都看不上，现在电视机已经走进了千家万户，这是多大的进步。
 
他们觉得，我们建了这个，我们建了那个，你别管过程中发生了什么，也别管这是给谁献礼，至少你用到了吧。你以前从上海到北京火车要一天一夜，现在只要不被雷劈，五个小时就到了，你为何不感激，为何充满了质疑？

. . . .

国家为什么不进步，是因为他们中的很多人一直在用毛泽东斯大林时代的他们来衡量自己，所以他们永远觉得自己太委屈了，太开明了，太公正了，太仁慈了，太低姿态了，太不容易了。他们将科技裹着时代向前走的步伐当成了自己主动开放的幻象，于是你越批评他，他越渴望极权，你越搞毛他，他越怀念毛。
 
有一个国家机器朋友对我说，你们就是不知足，你这样的文人，要是搁在四十年前，你就被枪毙了，你说这个时代，是进步了还是退步了。


我说，你们就是不知足，你这样的观点，要是搁在九十年前，早就被人笑死了，你说这个时代，他到底是进步了还是。

The screenshot below on the left shows the blog post as it appeared on July 27, 2011, and the screenshot on the right shows that it was deleted several hours later that same day.

 
Another target for censorship were posts on Sina Weibo asking users to vote on certain topics related to the train crash in the days after disaster. The screenshots below show three such posts that were deleted the same day they were posted:
 
"Are You Satisfied with the Handling of the 'Wenzhou Train Collision' Accident?"  (Vote #690625)
 


"Burying the Train Cars, Do You Believe the Rationale?" (Vote #692592)
 

 
"Has the Handling of the 'Wenzhou Train Collision' Accident Left You Satisfied?" ( Vote #695734)
 

5. Babies Poisoned by Mercury in Milk Formula

On June 15, 2012, the state sponsored Global Times reported: "Dairy producer Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co said yesterday that it has started recalling most of its Quanyou series formula milk powder produced from November 2011 to May 2012 since Wednesday, due to excessive mercury content which is harmful to the nervous system." See, "Yili recalls milk powder," Global Times, June 15, 2012.

The same day China's social media networks began censoring search results for "Yili mercury" [伊利 汞].  See, http://blog.feichangdao.com/2013/08/searching-for-information-about-milk.html.

6. The 2012 Beijing Floods

On July 23, 2012, the Global Times reported: "The heaviest rainstorms in 61 years hit the capital over the weekend, resulting in 37 deaths recorded as of 5 pm Sunday, authorities have announced.  A total of 25 people drowned, six were killed by collapsing houses, five by electrocution, and one by lightning strike, the Beijing municipal government said on its Sina Weibo account. Over 1.9 million residents have been affected, officials say." See, "Outdated drainage blamed for flood havoc," Global Times, July 23, 2012, https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/722780.shtml.

Within 48 hours, Sina Weibo began censoring all searches containing the term "death toll." [死亡人数] Articles in China's state sponsored media that contradicted official death toll claims were deleted. See, http://blog.feichangdao.com/2012/07/sina-weibo-censors-searches-relating-to.html and http://blog.feichangdao.com/2012/08/rumor-of-economic-observers-shuttering.html.

7. Beijing Mass Suicide Attempt in 2013

In August 2013 China's state sponsored media reported that ten people tried to commit suicide by drinking pesticide on a busy street near Beijing West Railway Station. Those media reports were deleted and China's social media websites censored results for searches related to the incident. See, http://blog.feichangdao.com/2013/12/sina-weibo-censors-searches-about-mass.html and http://blog.feichangdao.com/2013/08/chinas-weibos-news-sites-censor-report.html.

8. The 2013 Lushan Earthquake

In April, 20, 2013,  more than 100 people were killed and thousands were injured after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Lushan county in Sichuan.

  • On April 22,  China's social media websites began censoring search results for "Fan Jiyue" (范继跃) and "Lushan County Party Secretary" (芦山县委书记) after reports emerged Fan Jiyue, party leader of Lushan county, had taken off an expensive luxury wristwatch prior to participating in a photo-op with  Premier Li Keqiang during quake-relief work on April 21. See, http://blog.feichangdao.com/2013/04/2013-sichuan-earthquake-web-sites.html.
  • On April 23, the state-sponsored Southern Metropolis Daily published an article on its web site entitled "Disaster Victims Blocked by Broken Transportation Lines Assemble to Call Out 'I'm Cold, I'm Hungry'." (交通受阻受灾民众聚集拉幅称“我冷我饿”). According to the article the featured photo showed: "Disaster victims in Lingguan village, Baoxing county, Sichuan, holding up banners saying 'I'm cold I'm hungry' have drawn the attention and support of many." (四川省宝兴县灵关镇，受灾民众举着“我冷饿”的横幅，呼吸各方支持和关注。) The following day China's social media websites began censoring search results for "I'm cold, I'm hungry." See, http://blog.feichangdao.com/2013/04/2013-sichuan-earthquake-images-of.html.

9. Chai Jing's 2015 Anti-Pollution Video "Under the Dome"

China's state sponsored media acknowledged that China had severe pollution problems in 2015:

Air pollution has been a major concern for China throughout 2015, a year that marked a new phase in the country's air pollution control efforts, analysts said, after many cities were engulfed by hazardous smog and multiple measures were initiated against air pollution for the first time. After 2015 began with a controversial documentary about the hazards of smog, Under the Dome, the country has seen a rising public awareness of air pollution, as well as more measures from the government to curb the deterioration of air quality. Though Beijing's first-ever pollution red alert came at the end of the year, the country's battle against air pollution has just begun.

See: "Dark clouds still shroud blue skies," Global Times, December 29, 2015, https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/961117.shtml. 

According to the state sponsored China Daily:

Chai Jing's one-year project, Under the Dome, marks a comeback for the former presenter and journalist with China Central Television following the birth of her child. It adds a sentimental touch to a matter of public interest with Chai not only an independent observer but also a concerned mother. . . . "I saw smog through my daughter's eyes," Chai said while presenting her film. She recounted how the little girl was confined indoors, patting the window to vent her frustration at being unable to play outside.

"Former TV anchor on crusade against pollution," China Daily, February 28, 2015, https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2015-02/28/content_19681430.htm

When "Under the Dome" was released in early 2015, China's news media, video, and social media websites censored the video and information about the video. See:

10. Protests and Other Public Events

In China people are expected to know that information about public events, even reports of those events by news agencies, may be deemed by police, prosecutors, and judges to be state secrets. See, State v. Zheng Enchong, (2003) Hu No. 2 Intermediate Criminal No. 136 [郑恩宠刑事判决书, (2003)沪二中刑初字第136号]: "Zheng Enchong learned secrets from a police officer surnamed Xu that the Shanghai public security agency was dealing with emergencies arising from a sudden mass incident at the Shanghai Yimin Food Products Factory, he took notes, organized them, and on the morning of the 23rd, faxed a hand-written draft that included the aforementioned secrets from his residence at Puyuan Road to the organization Human Rights in China in New York."

Police in China are empowered by law to punish people without trial for sharing information and opinions about public events. The punishments can range from official reprimands to ordering people to delete information and software, to jailing them for up to 15 days. Some examples:

Even seemingly minor factual errors about traffic accidents can result in government sanctions. For example, in 2016 China's Internet regulator ordered a public WeChat account shut down because it posted an article with a headline that failed to make it clear that it was sheep, and not people, who died in a traffic accident. That same year a man was jailed for posting that seven people died in a car accident, when in fact only three people had died. See, https://blog.feichangdao.com/2016/02/government-shuts-down-wechat-account.html and http://blog.feichangdao.com/2014/07/internet-user-jailed-five-days-for.html.

Finally, China's news media, search engines, and social media websites censor information about protests, labor unrest, and other public incidents. For example:

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Translation: Sun Daluo's Court Judgment for Sharing Books and Articles

The PRC government sentenced Sun Zhiming (孙志明, who wrote under the alias Sun Daluo (孙大骆)) to one year imprisonment for the crime of "di...