Fei Chang Dao

On June 28, 2013, the state-sponsored Tianshan Net published an article entitled "Group Gathers for Mass Disturbance in Tuoshan Xinjiang, No Injuries or Fatalities" ( 新疆妥善处置一起群体聚集闹事事件 无群众伤亡 ). The report stated: At 3:30 pm on June 28, an armed group gathered to create a disturbance in Hanerik Township in Hotan, Xinjiang, public security agencies urgently handled the situation, and detained the troublemakers in accordance with the law, and the situation quickly quieted down. 6月28日15时30分许，新疆和田县罕尔日克镇发生一起群体持械聚集闹事事件，公安机关紧急处置，依法抓捕留置闹事人员，事态迅速平息。 These screenshots show that Sina Weibo was censoring searches for "Hotan" (和田), and Tencent Weibo was censoring searches for "Hotan Disturbance" (和田 骚乱). These screenshots show that a user of Baidu's PostBar (Tieba 贴吧) forums reposted the Tianshan story, and that the post was deleted within hours.  See also: Violence in Xinjiang Leaves Dozens Dead - A Look at the Censorship

Early in the afternoon of June 26, 2013, the state-sponsored China.org.cn published an English language report from the official news agency Xinhua published a report entitled " Riots in Xinjiang Kill 27 ." An excerpt: Riots left 27 people dead early Wednesday in a remote town in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, local authorities said. The riots happened at around 6 a.m. in Lukqun township of Shanshan County in Turpan Prefecture. Later that afternoon, most of China's major online news media outlets had published a Chinese language report entitled "Disturbance Takes Place in Remote Xinjiang City Leaves 27 Dead" (新疆一处边远城市发生骚乱27人死亡), the text of which stated: According to an English language Xinhua report, at approximately six this morning a disturbance took place in a remote city in Xinjiang in which 27 people died. 据新华社英文稿库，新疆一处边远城市今日早晨6点左右发生骚乱27人死亡。 Within hours the report had been deleted from the following URLs: http://news.ife

On June 17, 2013, Monsanto announced that China's Ministry of Agriculture had approved the company’s Intacta soybeans, which it’s planning to launch in Brazil for the upcoming crop season. According to Monsanto: Intacta RR2 PROTM soybeans, genetically modified to resist insects, are a cornerstone of Monsanto’s next-generation soybeans.  The approval is “a significant milestone” and “showcases the next wave of innovation that is poised to drive the decade of the soybean at Monsanto,” Monsanto President and Chief Commercial Officer Brett Begemann said in a statement. China's current Minister of Agriculture is Han Changfu (韩长赋). These screenshots show that searches for "Han Changfu Monsanto" (韩长赋 孟山都) and "Han Changfu Genetic Modification" (韩长赋 转基因) on Sina Weibo and Baidu return apparently uncensored results. Sun Zhengcai (孙政才) was Minister of Agriculture from 2006-2009. These screenshots show that searches for "Sun Zhengcai Monsanto" (孙政才

On May 22, 2013, the state-sponsored Yunnan Info Daily published an article entitled "Well-Known Lawyer Reports He Was Stopped for Entering Hotel to Meet Friend for Being a 'Person of Interest'" (知名律师自曝成“重点” 进宾馆会友被挡门外). Some excerpts: Yesterday evening well-known lawyer Pu Zhiqiang publicized a "somewhat surprising" incident -- that he had been personally listed as a "person of interest," and was prevented from entering a Beijing hotel. According to the hotel, they were merely acting based on information associated with his personal identification card. . . . . According to Pu, when he provided [hotel security] with his ID card, they swiped it on a terminal which then stated he was a "person of interest," and refused to allow him entry into the hotel. . . . . Yesterday, the lobby manager for the Ruian Hotel said that his "hotel was somewhat special," and they did not admit anyone with a criminal record or any foreigner

This screenshot was taken on April 30, 2013, and shows that on that day Sina Weibo was censoring searches for "Asset Disclosure Nine Gentlemen" (财产公示九君子). On May 24, 2013, China-based civil rights lawyer Xu Zhiyong (许志永) published an article on his blog entitled "Citizen’s Statement Regarding the Arrest of the Asset Disclosure Ten Gentlemen" ( 公民就“财产公示十君子”被捕的声明 ). The post was signed by Xu,Xiao Shu (笑蜀), Wang Gongquan (王功权), Teng Biao (滕彪), Liu Weiguo (刘卫国), Li Xiongbing (黎雄兵), Liang Xiaojun (梁小军), Li Fangping (李方平), and Xiao Guozhen (肖国珍). It has been translated by Yaxue Cao at Seeing Red In China . Some excerpts: On March 31, 2013, Yuan Dong, Zhang Baocheng, Ma Xinli, Hou Xin and two others unfurled banners in downtown Xidan plaza, Beijing, calling for officials to publicly disclose their personal assets. Ten or so minutes later, they were taken away by police, and later, four of them were criminally detained on charges of “illegal assembly.” . . . . Din

On May 20, 2013, the Chinese language edition of the New York Times' web site published a letter by Chinese author Murong Xuecun (慕容雪村) entitled " Open Letter to a Nameless Censor " ( 致黑暗中的弄权者 ). Some excerpts: Thanks to your efforts, this great nation of 1.3 billion people does not have a single newspaper that can express objective views, nor a single TV station that broadcasts objective programs, or even the smallest space where people can speak freely. This is your legacy, dear Nameless Censor. . . . . Please look closely at these names: Ran Yunfei, writer, scholar; Zhang Xuezhong, professor of law; Xiao Xuehui, professor of ethics; Song Shinan, scholar; He Bing, professor of law; Si Weijiang, renowned lawyer; Shen Yachuan, veteran journalist; Xiang Xiaokai, scholar; Wu Wei, scholar; Wu Zalai, scholar; Teng Biao, renowned lawyer, scholar. The list goes on...Over a period of a just a few days, these people’s Weibo accounts have also vanished at the end of your gun

Images from a deleted Sina Weibo post. On Sunday, June 9, 2013 (the day before a three day national holiday in China), a Chinese court convicted Liu Hui (刘晖) of defrauding another man of 3 million yuan and sentenced him to 11 years imprisonment. Liu Hui is the brother of Liu Xia (刘霞), wife of Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo (刘晓波). On Christmas day, 2009, a Chinese court convicted Liu Xiaobo of inciting subversion of state power and sentenced him to 11 years imprisonment. The screenshots below were taken on June 10 and show that a Yahoo.cn search for "Liu Xiaobo Liu Hui" (刘晓波 刘晖) returned only 10 results, and only from Xinhua, People's Daily, and China.com.cn (all operated by the central government and Communist Party). The same search on Yahoo.com returned  dozens of results, and the first page of results included Radio France International, Deutsche Welle, BBC, and Wikipedia. The screenshot to the right was taken in the morning of June 10, and shows that the t

In August 2012 in " Baidu Employees Arrested for Deleting Posts for Cash, Baidu Censors 'Delete Posts' " this blog noted that the state-sponsored Global Times had published an article entitled " Baidu Staff Delete Posts for Cash ." That article stated: "According to internal communications from Baidu, an employee, surnamed Lu, was working with professional agents to delete posts." In February 2013 in " Caixin and Weibos Block Access to Report on Private/Public Cooperation in Internet Censorship " this blog noted that the state-sponsored Caixin Magazine had published an article entitled "The Post Deletion Business" (删帖生意), but that within hours the publicly-available version posted here - http://magazine.caixin.com/2013-02-08/100490897_all.html - had been deleted and visitors to that URL were being re-directed to Caixin's home page. At some point between February and May of 2013, Caixin restored public access to the ful

On May 8, 2013, the web site of the state sponsored Hubei Television Broadcasting (湖北广播电视 台) published an article entitled "Peng Liyuan Suspected of Using iPhone, Obama Loves His Blackberry, Uncovering the Personal Cell Phones of the World's Presidents" (彭丽媛疑为iPhone5 奥巴马钟情黑莓 揭秘各国总统私人手机).  Peng Liyuan is the wife of PRC President Xi Jinping (习近平). This screenshot was taken on June 10, and shows that a search for the title of the article on Baidu returns no results, just a censorship notice. These screenshots were taken on June 10, and show that Baidu censored searches for "Peng Liyuan iPhone" (彭丽媛 iPhone), but not for "Peng Liyuan Phone" (彭丽媛 Phone). These screenshots show that Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo censored searches for "Peng Liyuan iPhone" (彭丽媛 iPhone), but not for "Peng Liyuan" (彭丽媛).

Both the China Digital Times and Citizenlab have posted extensive lists of words censored by Sina Weibo relating to the government's crackdown on protesters in Tiananmen Square in June 1989. Below are some screenshots illustrating Sina's censorship. See here for examples of how Baidu censored information about what happened in June 1989. Censorship of the Place it Happened These screenshots show that on June 4, 2013, the 24th anniversary of the crackdown, Sina Weibo censored "Tiananmen" (天安门) and "TAM" (and stopped censoring those terms the following day). Censorship of What Happened These screenshots show Sina Weibo also started censoring "Tanks" (坦克) and "Massacre" (屠杀). Censorship of When it Happened These screenshots show Sina Weibo began censoring "Six Four" (六四),  "VIIIIXVIIV" (roman numerals for "8," "9," "6," and "4"), and "24th Anniver