Fei Chang Dao

At 4:00 pm on September 28, 2012, China's official news agency Xinhua published a report stating: "BO XILAI EXPELLED FROM CPC, PUBLIC OFFICE, TO FACE JUSTICE" ( Chinese version ) Within hours after the announcement, Sina and Tencent stopped censoring searches for both "Bo Xilai" (薄熙来) and his son "Bo Guagua" (薄瓜瓜). Both of those terms had been censored since at least 2011.

On July 14, 2012, the Changsha Morning Post published an article entitled "Internet Users at Hotels Will Have a 'Recorder'" ( 宾馆酒店上网将有“记录者” ). An excerpt: Yesterday, the Changsha Public Security Office held a conference entitled "City-Wide Internet Information Security Work Drive," during which they confirmed the security technical protection measures for hotels, restaurants, and other venues that provided non-commercial Internet access services to floating populations, and explicitly required these venues to install Internet security management and monitoring systems. Based on our understanding, the cost of installing these systems will be borne by the non-commercial Internet service venues, and those who fail to put the systems in place can be fined up to 15,000 yuan. . . . . According to Tang Xinguo, Section Chief of the Network Administration Institute of Changsha Public Security Office's Internet Monitoring Bureau, it is not necessary to produ

On August 20, 2012, a court in Hefei, Anhui, found Gu Kailai (谷开来), wife of former Chongqing Communist Party Secretary Bo Xilai (薄熙来), guilty of murdering Neil Heywood (尼尔伍德), and gave her a suspended death sentence. It also found Zhang Xiaojun (张晓军) guilty and sentenced him to nine years imprisonment. For a detailed chronology of censorship in that case, see this post. On September 24, 2012, the Chengdu Intermediate People's Court found Wang Lijun (王立军), former Deputy Mayor of Chongqing, guilty of bribe-taking (受贿 - 9 years), abuse of power (滥用职权 - two years), defecting  (叛逃 - 2 years), and “bending the law for selfish ends,” (徇私枉法 - 7 years) and sentenced him to a term of 15 years imprisonment. The following is a timeline of the events and censorship leading up to Wang Lijun's conviction. 2007 Wang, then police chief of the city of Jinzhou in northeast China's Liaoning Province, first meets Bogu Kailai. 2009 April : While Wang was serving as the chief of Ch

On September 9, 2012, the state-sponsored Global Times published an English language article entitled " Forced Labor Forces Rethink ." An excerpt: Peng Hong, from Chongqing, was put into a local camp in October 14, 2009 when his wife was six months pregnant, after he forwarded a picture implicitly showing local officials serving as "umbrellas" for criminal gangs on an Internet forum.  In an interview with the Global Times, Peng stated that he had copied the picture from other online forums and was not the creator of the picture. However, this excuse was rejected by the police and he was not released until November 2011. Peng said that he is now attempting to sue the local re-education through labor committee. Peng Hong (彭洪) went into more detail in an interview with the state-sponsored Southern People Weekly (南方人物周刊) in an article entitled "Peng Hong Gets Two Years Re-Education Through Labor for Posting an 'Anti-Mafia' Picture." ( 彭洪 贴“打黑”

A Japanese department store burns during protests in Changsha. Credit: People's Daily On September 17, 2012, the state-sponsored People's Daily published an article on its front page entitled "Solidify Patriotic Power Using Civility and Rule by Law" ( 用文明法治凝聚爱国力量 ). An excerpt: For several days now cries of "The Diaoyu Islands belong to China!" from people all over have echoed across the broad expanse of the East China Sea. In their anger they have exercised restraint, in their passion they have maintained moderation, expressing themselves in a rational, civil, and orderly manner, demonstrating the determination of the Chinese people to defend their sovereignty and safeguard their their territory, forcefully beating back Japanese government's farcical "islands purchase," and winning the understanding and respect of the international community.  “钓鱼岛是中国的！”连日来，各地群众的呼声，穿越了东海的万顷波涛。他们愤怒不失克制、热情不失平和、有理有节文明有序的表达，表现出中华民族维护主权、捍卫领土的坚定决心，有力反击了日

At around 6:30 pm on September 16, 2012, a Sina Weibo user posted the following: The Diaoyu Islands are Japan's, I want to tell all Chinese people, from ancient times the Diaoyu Islands were the sovereign territory of Japan, don't go around biting people like some rabid dog, Sina Weibo can delete my post and close my account, but I'll still keep saying it, the Diaoyu Islands are Japan's and I support Japan.  钓鱼岛是日本的，我想告诉所有的中国人，钓鱼岛自古以来就是日本不变的领土，别像一个疯狗乱咬人，新浪有本事删除我的微博，除非封号，不然后我还是发的，钓鱼岛是日本的，我支持日本 Less than 20 minutes later the post was deleted and the user posted the following: Today I've been in a fight-to-the-death with Sina Weibo, when I'm posting something is it possible that Sina Weibo does not know that Hong Kong has freedom of expression, deleting my posts, I'm telling Sina Weibo that unless you shut down my account I'll continue posting, I'm not afraid of you, If you have the guts come and find me I'm in Hong Kong Tsim Sha Tsui, Ch

On September 18, 2012, the state-sponsored People's Daily reported : A few days ago Internet users erupted with news that the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television had issued a notice that television stations must not broadcast any television programs or cartoons  relating to Japan, or any film or television productions involving Japanese actors, and that over ten television shows about opposing Japan including  "Bright Sword," "Brutal Flower," and "Tunnel Warfare" had therefore been banned. Yesterday a knowledgable person said that SARFT had merely verbally notified television stations not to broadcast any Japanese television shows, cartoons, or artistic programs, and had not in fact made any specific demands about shows about opposing Japan.  日前有网友爆料称，广电总局下发新通知，电视台不得播放任何和日本相关的电视剧、卡通片，有日本演员参演的影视作品也在此之列，包括《亮剑》、《狼毒花》、《地道战》在内的十余部抗日题材的电视剧也因此遭禁播。昨日有知情人表示，广电总局只是口头通知各电视台不要播出日本电视剧、卡通、综艺节目，并未对抗日剧有明确的要求。

On September 17, 2012, the state-sponsored Caixin Magazine published a report entitled " Closer Look: How a Protest in Beijing Stuck to the Script. " An excerpt: A nearby street was filled with police, most of them relaxed. When I photographed the protest, he smiled and said: "You can join the protest." "Can I? Won't I be pulled out?" I asked. "Since it is me who let you in, who dares pull you out!" he said. "But I haven't applied for permission," I said. "It is OK. The organizer has applied," he said. A middle-aged policeman also encouraged me to join the parade. "Can I shout 'Punish corruptions'?" I inquired. "No, you can't!" the middle-aged officer said, suddenly seriously. "Only slogans concerned with Diaoyu Islands are allowed," a young policeman chimed in.  我们用手机拍照，一位年纪大约二十七八的警察笑眯眯地动员我：到队伍里面去拍吧，跟着他们走一圈。我问：我能进去吗？不会撵我出来？他继续动员：我让你进的还有谁会撵你？我说：我没有申请啊。不用，带头的人申请就行了

The following screenshots were taken on September 18, 2012. Baidu's home page doodle shows an island with a PRC flag on it. Clicking on the doodle leads to a page entitled "Diaoyu Islands, China's! http://baodiao.baidu.com/ Baidu's Japan and Taiwan home pages did not have any doodles. On September 20, Kaiser Kuo, Baidu’s director of international communications, offered this explanation : The overwhelming majority of Baidu’s employees and users clearly feel very strongly on this topic, but our purpose was to encourage people to be rational in their expressions of patriotism, to renounce violence and other forms of extremism. Planting a digital flag to express your feelings on the matter of the Diaoyu Islands is a much better alternative to throwing rocks or smashing cars. Jike's home page has a text link saying: "Safeguard the Diaoyu Islands, Take Action Now!" (保卫钓鱼岛，即刻行动！) Clicking on the link leads to a page with the same title.