Fei Chang Dao

On April 25, 2013, the state-sponsored Global Times published an English language article entitled " Official Dies in Custody, Family Wants Answers ." An excerpt: The family of a senior court official from the city of Sanmenxia (三门峡), Henan Province who died Tuesday while being detained by the city's commission for discipline inspection, said his body was bruised and is demanding a thorough investigation. Jia Jiuxiang (贾九翔), who was vice president of the Sanmenxia City Intermediate People's Court, was detained on April 12 and died 11 days later after being sent to the hospital for emergency treatment. The court and the commission declined to discuss Jia's cause of death or reveal why he was in custody when reached by the Global Times. Jia's son, Jia Tianran, told the Global Times that he believes his father was tortured and beaten to death, as his father's body was covered with bruises and his wrists showed signs of being tightly bound. On April 24,

On December 12, 2005, the People's Daily web site published a report from China's official news agency Xinhua entitled " Experts: Three Gorges Project Didn't Trigger Earthquake in East China's Jiangxi Province ." An excerpt: Chinese experts lashed out Friday at a report claiming that the Three Gorges Project triggered last weekend's earthquake in east China's Jiangxi Province, calling it "sheer speculation without any scientific foundation." "Scientific studies show that the Three Gorges Project didn't trigger the earthquake in Jiujiang City of Jiangxi Province," Dr. Qin Xiaojun, a seismologist and spokesman for the Hubei Provincial Seismological Bureau currently in Jiujiang for disaster appraisal, told Xinhua. On June 27, 2012, the state-sponsored Global Times published an article entitled " Power Plants Not Quake Factories ." An excerpt: Yunnan authorities said on Monday that the earthquake that struck the bor

On April 23, 2013, the state-sponsored Global Times published an article entitled " Lushan Official Just in Time for Scandal ." An excerpt: A Lushan county official found himself at the center of controversy on April 23 after sleuthing netizens noticed in online photos that he had taken off his luxury watch while leaders from the central government visited the quake-shaken area in Sichuan Province. A photo taken of Fan Jiyue, party leader of Lushan county, while accompanying Premier Li Keqiang overseeing quake-relief work on April 21, revealed visible tan lines on Fan's left wrist. Web users assumed that Fan had secretly taken off his expensive watch before he met with the Premier. These screenshots, taken on April 22, show that Sina Weibo was censoring searches for "Fan Jiyue" (范继跃) and "Lushan County Party Secretary" (芦山县委书记). These screenshots show that Tencent Weibo began censoring searches for "Fan Jiyue" some time between Apri

This screenshot was taken on April 24, and shows that a search on Sina Weibo for "I'm cold I'm hungry" returned no results, just a censorship notice. On April 20, 2013, the state-sponsored China Daily reported : More than 100 people were killed and thousands injured after a strong quake struck southwest China's Sichuan Province Saturday morning, triggering massive rescue efforts. The 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Lushan county of Ya'an City in the province at 8:02 am Saturday Beijing Time. At least 156 people were killed, according to the China Earthquake Administration on Saturday afternoon. More than 5,500 people were injured, according to a statement from the Lushan county publicity department at Saturday noon, adding that about 140,000 people will have to be relocated. The epicenter of the quake, with a depth of 13 km, was monitored at 30.3 degrees north latitude and 103.0 degrees east longitude. It is one of the most destructive earthqukes in China

On April 10, 2013, Red Flag Journal (红旗文稿), a magazine published by the Communist Party's flagship magazine Seeking Truth, published an article entitled "Target the Two Venues of Public Discourse, Solidify the Positive Energy of Society" (统筹两个舆论场 凝聚社会正能量). The article was authored by Ren Xianliang (任贤良), acting vice-minister of Shaanxi province’s propaganda department. Some excerpts: In today's China, subjectively speaking there exist two venues for public discourse. One comprises traditional media venues such as the platform of Party newspapers, magazines, broadcasters, and press agencies. The other is the new media that is founded on the Internet. For some time now the core disseminations and expressed appeals of these two venues' have been at odds with one another, and this has not only directly challenged the bottom-line principle that the Party controls the media, but has also led to social divisions and confrontations based on class, severe damage

These screenshots show that Sina Weibo began censoring searches for "24th Anniversary" (24周年) at some time between January 28 and April 20, 2013.

On March 24, 2013, the state-sponsored Global Times published an article entitled " Hanlong Chair Probed ." Some excerpts: The chairman of China's Hanlong Mining, Liu Han, is under police investigation for harboring his brother before the latter's arrest on suspicion of murder, Xinhua reported Saturday.  Xinhua, quoting police sources, said Saturday Liu was being investigated for possibly hiding evidence, among other "serious" criminal offences. These screenshots show that, as early as March 21, Sina Weibo was censoring searches for "Liu Han" (刘汉), it then stopped censoring by March 24, was saying it could not find any results on March 29, and had resumed censorship by April 22. These screenshots show that searches for "Liu Han" on Qihoo 360 News, Baidu News and Sogou News on March 29 returned no results, no results, and a censorship notice, respectively.

April 15, 2013, was the 24th anniversary of the death of Hu Yaobang (胡耀邦), who was Chairman of the Communist Party from 1981 to 1982, then as Party General Secretary from 1982 to 1987. According to a 2012 article entitled " Thousands Mourn for Hu Yaobang in Jiangxi " published by the state-sponsored magazine Caijing: "After his death in 1989, 100000 students marched on the Tiananmen Square, which is later called the Tiananmen Square Protest in 1989." These screenshots were taken on April 15, 2013, and show that Sina Weibo was censoring searches for "Hu Yaobang," and Baidu was banning users from establishing PostBar (Tieba 贴吧) forums about Hu. These screenshots, taken on April 20, show that Baidu was censoring searches for "Hu Yaobang Tiananmen" (胡耀邦 天安门) and "Hu Yaobang Rehabilitate" (胡耀邦 平反), but not for "Hu Yaobang Tianan" (胡耀邦 天安) or "Hu Yaobang Ordinary" (胡耀邦 平凡 - "Ordinary" is homophonous with

On April 8, 2013, the state-sponsored Global Times published an article entitled " Rise to the Occasion ," with a photo captioned: "Dock workers and their supporters demand a 20-percent pay rise in the largest strike in Hong Kong in six years on Sunday." These screenshots, taken on April 15, 2013, show that Sina Weibo was censoring searches for "Hong Kong Dock Workers Strike" (香港码头工人罢工), but not for "Dock Workers Strike" (码头工人罢工). By April 20, Sina Weibo had stopped this censorship.

On the morning of April 18, 2013, several state-sponsored media outlets, including the Global Times and China.org.cn (operated by the State Council's Information Office) published an article entitled "'Taxi, Taxi', for China's Xi Jinping." An excerpt: Chinese President Xi Jinping decided to take a taxi ride on the evening of March 1 in downtown Beijing and was recognized by the taxi driver whilst chatting together in the car, the Hong Kong-based Ta Kung Pao reports. The taxi-driver, 46-year-old Guo Lixin, is from Pinggu district in suburban Beijing. Guo, who has been driving his taxi for about 8 years, says he vividly remembers the ride with President Xi. Guo recalls that it was already dark at about 7:00pm. He had just parked his car near the Gulou (drum tower) west street in Xicheng district for a little while when two male passengers got into his car; one sitting on the passenger seat and the other on the rear seat. . . . . Guo's esteemed passenger a

On January 28, 2011, the state-sponsored Caixin Magazine published an article entitled " Successful Shanxi Rail Magnate Under Scrutiny ." Some excerpts: Ding Shumiao is a successful businesswoman, celebrated philanthropist and so well-connected that more than 400 central government and Communist Party leaders attended a huge Spring Festival celebration in early 2010 sponsored by her coal-railway-advertising conglomerate. . . . . Caixin learned from several sources that authorities in Beijing are probing Ding. Whether police agencies are involved is unclear. Neither is it certain whether her high-level network of personal connections may offer a degree of protection. Ding, 55, is also a member of the Shanxi Province branch of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. After Ding came under an investigative cloud, several sources expressed concern about her "complicated" connections to top officials. Some said the case "may involve somethi

The April 2013 edition of the China-based Lens Magazine included an article entitled "Leaving Masanjia." (走出"马三家") Here is an excerpt from the introduction that was made available to non-subscribers online on April 6: The re-education through labor system has been around for 57 years, during which time it has been an infection on the carcass of China's legal system that will not heal. Now we are finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. Lens Magazine has turned its focus on the Masanjia Women's Womens Re-Education Through Labor Facility, and through research and interviews with various parties, tries to give readers an overview of how those subjected to re-education through labor live their lives behind those high walls. Its not possible to capture all of the various circumstances in this 20,000 word report, much less the four words "Re-eduction Through Labor."  In early February 2013, a woman petitioner who had recently been released fr

State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television (2013) No. 110 The press and publication offices of each province, autonomous region, and municipality, the press and publication office of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Brigade, the press and publication office of the People's Liberation Army's General Political Propaganda Bureau, the periodical publications administration offices of each agency, democratic party, and civic organization of the Communist Party and the central government, and major media outlets of the Communist Party: The Internet is an important channel for news editorial personnel to communicate with readers, obtain information, and increase broadcast effectiveness. In order to comprehensively bring into play the Internet's utility, promote the formation of healthy news order, you are hereby notified of the following in order to strengthen the management of online activities of news editorial personnel including their util