The 2013 Nobel Peace Prize - History With Mainland Chinese Characteristics on Baidu's Version of Wikipedia

On October 11, 2013, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2013 was awarded to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) "for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons."

These screenshots show that, while Baidu has updated its Encyclopedia (百科 Baike) entry for "Nobel Peace Prize" to include the 2013 winner, it has yet to record who won the prize is 2010.

On October 8, 2010, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2010 was awarded to Liu Xiaobo (刘晓波) "for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China."

These screenshots show that, some time during the last year, Baidu's Encyclopedia entry for the Nobel Peace Prize was also edited to remove reference to the 1989 winner, the Dalai Lama.

Baidu's Encyclopedia and News Websites Delete Information About Official Killed During Shuanggui

On April 11, 2013, the state-sponsored Global Times published an article entitled "Wenzhou Official Under Shuanggui Dies." Some excerpts:

A Party member and chief engineer for a State-owned enterprise in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, died in suspicious circumstances Tuesday while being held for investigation by the city's commission for discipline inspection.
The People's Procuratorate of Wenzhou said the man, Yu Qiyi, "suffered an accident" Monday night and died in hospital at 3:15 am on Tuesday. However, Yu's family slammed claims his death was accidental, insisting photos circulated online show he had bruises and appeared to have been bitten.
Yu, born in 1971, was the chief engineer of the Wenzhou Industry Investment Group.
He was being held under shuanggui, a procedure in which Party and government officials are asked to confess to wrongdoings for serious violations of Party discipline and State laws.
. . . .
The hospital listed the cause of Yu's death as drowning, noting he was unconscious when admitted for treatment, his father said. 

 This screenshot was taken on October 8, 2013, and shows that Baidu has banned users from establishing forums on its PostBar (贴吧 Tieba) forum on the subject of "Shuang Gui" (双规).

On April 16, the Global Times published an article entitled "Family Slams Autopsy of Official Who ‘Suffered an Accident’ in Custody." Some excerpts:

Yu Zusheng, father of the deceased official, told the Global Times on Monday that the police ignored requests from the family to have a third party present, and performed the postmortem examination on their own at around 9:30 am on Sunday.
. . . .
"I don't understand why the police are being so secretive and want to keep us out of this. It has been seven days since the death of my son. There is more than enough time to find out when the death occurred and who are the potential suspects," said Yu Zusheng.
Pu Zhiqiang, lawyer of the Yu family, told the Global Times that his client will challenge the legitimacy of the autopsy and whatever evidence came out of it in court because it was not conducted independently.

On September 4, the Global Times published an article from the state-sponsored Beijing Times (京华时报) entitled "Wenzhou Official Dies During Shuanggui After Having His Head Repeatedly Pushed Under Water" (温州官员双规期间被纪委人员反复按头闷水致死). Some excerpts:

On April 9 of this year, Wenzhou official Yu Qiyi died under unusual circumstance while under shuanggui. Beijing Times reporters learned yesterday that his case will be adjudicated in another jurisdiction - the Intermediate People's Court in Quzhou, Zhejiang. On August 30, the Quzhou Procurotorate filed indictments in Yu Qiyi's case against six Communist Party cadres. The indictments claims that five of the six are officials with the Discipline and Inspection Office, while the remaining individual was seconded from the Procurotorate. The Procurotorate claims that in order to force Yu Qiyi to disclose information, they repeatedly stuffed him into a ice-filled bath, resulting in his death, placing them under suspicion of murder.
. . . .
The indictments say the six defendants are Cheng Wenjie, Wu Zhiwei, Li Xiang, Nan Yu, Gu Chenfu, and Zhang Fangchao, that Gu Chenfu was on secondment from Wenzhou Procuratorate to the Wenzhou Municipal Discipline and Inspection Office, and that the five others were all cadres at the Wenzhou Municipal Discipline and Inspection Office. The six defendants are all Communist Party members, and three are "80's" generation cadres.
. . . .
April 20, Cheng Wenjie, Li Xiang, and Nan Yu were subjected to criminal detention by the Quzhou Public Security Office, and were officially arrested one month later.
May 15, the other three were criminally detained, and were officially arrested on June 20.
. . . .
Wu Pengbin [lawyer for Yu Qiyi's widow, Wu Qian] said that two days ago he filed an application with the Quzhou Intermediate People's Court asking to be allowed to review the case files, and the Court's clear response was that no review would permitted during the trial period. He was similarly rebuffed last week when he made an application to review the files with Quzhou Procurotorate.
. . . .
Wu Pengbin said that he had been retained by the family to advocate on behalf of the victims, and had received permission to participate in the trial, but that because he was unable to review the files, "there was absolutely no way for him to express any opinions, and there is no way for the rights and interests of the victims to have any guarantees." 

今年4月9日，温州官员於其一在双规期间非正常死亡。京华时报记者昨天获悉，此案将在浙江省衢州市中院异地审理。8月30日，衢州市人民检察院对於其一案的6名办案干部提起公诉。起诉书显示，6名被告人中有5人系纪委系统干部，另1人系从检察院借调。检方称，6人为迫使於其一交待问题，将其转置于冰水浴桶中反复闷水致死，涉嫌故意伤害罪。
. . . .
起诉书显示，6名被告人分别为：程文杰、吴植伟、李翔、南宇、谷陈福和章方潮。其中，谷陈福系从温州市纪委从温州市检察院借调，其他5人均为温州纪委系统的干部。6名被告人均为中共党员，其中3人为“80后”干部。
. . . .
4月20日，程文杰、李翔、南宇被衢州市公安局刑事拘留，一个月后被依法逮捕。5月15日，其他3人也被刑拘，并于6月20日被逮捕。
. . . .
吴鹏彬称，前天，他向衢州市中院提交了申请查阅卷宗的法律手续，法院明确答复一审期间不允许查阅。而在上周，他向衢州市检察院申请查阅卷宗，同样被拒。
. . . .
吴鹏彬说，他受家属委托维护被害人的利益，获准参加庭审，但因为无法阅卷，“根本没办法发表意见，被害人的权益没法得到保障。”

As of September 8 the article was still available on the Global Times web site here - http://china.huanqiu.com/hot/2013-09/4319432.html. As of September 15, it had been deleted.

These screenshots show that the article was also deleted from the web sites of Xinhua and the Legal Daily.

• http://news.xinhuanet.com/legal/2013-09/04/c_125313761.htm
• http://www.legaldaily.com.cn/locality/content/2013-09/04/content_4816772.htm?node=37230

This video shows that the article was also removed from the Beijing Times web site here - http://news.jinghua.cn/fazhi/2013/0904/7898.shtml.

The following video was made on September 15, and shows that, of the top ten search results on Baidu for the Beijing Times' article's title, it has been deleted from every page except this one: http://news.china.com/3g/11143958/20130904/18031528.html.

These screenshots show that, between September 5 and September 9, all information relating to Yu Qiyi's death had been deleted from Baidu's Encyclopedia (百科 Baike) article on Yu Qiyi. The article ends with the statement that he was placed under shuanggui in March 2013, but makes no mention of the fact that he is dead or the circumstances surrounding his death.

This screenshot shows the history of the edits on Yu Qiyi's Baidu Baike article, with the final entry on September 9 saying: "Deleted content with invalid reference materials or lacking supporting reference material" (删除失效参考资料以及没有参考资料支持的内容).

On September 19, Zhang Lifan (章立凡) published an article on his blog entitled "Record of Court Proceedings in the Attack of Yu Qiyi (Prepared by Pu Zhiqiang)" (於其一被害案庭审纪录（浦志强整理）). The article, originally available here - http://blog.caijing.com.cn/expert_article-151497-59125.shtml - purported to be a record of the September 17 proceedings at the Intermediate People's Court in Quzhou, Zhejiang. These screenshots show that the article was subsequently deleted.

Some excerpts:

Li Xiang Defense Counsel #2: Today by convening this hearing we wanted to examine the facts in order to determine each of your reletive positions and roles. Right now I would ask you a question, which the prosecutor and your own defense counsel has already asked, which is that, when you recommended Li Xiang to Liu Xianfeng . . . oh, excuse me, I accidentally spoke the name of your leader, they had interviewed and chatted, he was the director of your supervision office, correct? Can you please directly tell the court the name of the director of your supervision office?
Cheng Wenjie: His name is Liu Xianfeng.
Li Xiang Defense Counsel #2: On the afternoon of April 8, do you remember the content of the brief meeting?
Cheng Wenjie: About the circumstances of meeting that afternoon, I've already given an explanation to the police, and its all recorded in the case file.
Li Xiang Defense Counsel #2: Defense counsel asks that you clearaly explain it to the court.
Judge: This court has already heard it, you don't need to say anything on the matter.
Pu Zhiqiang Interrupts: As legal counsel we demand the court allow him to explain, all of you have the case file, we're the only ones who don't have the case file, you can't have this kind of speaking in riddles during a hearing.
Judge: Counsel will observe discipline in this court, it is not your time to speak.
Pu Zhiqiang: But we don't have the case file, we have a need to know, the court should let him explain!
Judge: This court has decided not to allow you to speak! Respect order in the court!
Pu Zhiqiang: Your court must respect the law! How can you not allow us to see the case file?!
. . . .
Judge (approximately 11:05): This morning, just now, the prosecution and defense counsel have put questions to the defendant Cheng Wenjie, and the Court has heard everything, and therefore, the court will not entertain any further arrangements for the legal representatives to question the defendant. . . .
Wu Pengbin: How can you not let us cross-examine? We have dozens of questions here to ask him, and I can assure you that the questions we want to ask won't be repetitive of those asked by the prosecution and defense counsel! Why won't you let us cross-examine?
Pu Zhiqiang: The law gives the victim rights, how can you deprive us? What is it you're afraid of?
Judge: I must ask legal counsel to observe order in the court! You will show this judge respect!
Pu Zhiqiang: They you must respect the law! That is the emblem of our nation behind you! Your authority comes from the law, and you have no authority to walk all over it!
Judge: This court will no longer permit you to speak! The court has rendered its decision, and no more questioning of the defendant will be permitted!
Pu Zhiqiang: So that's the way it is! Well! Have it your way! I once request you recuse yourself!
Judge: Watch your attitude and tone when speaking to the judge! This court has already decided that you will not be permitted submit another application for recusal!
(Wu Pengbin shouts, in the visitors' gallery all of the 60-70 observers are relatively quiet, except for Yu Qiyi's father, widow, and brother-in-law, who stand up and shout their objections.)
(About a dozen police officers arrive, and gather behind Pu Zhiqiang and Wu Pengbin.)
Pu Zhiqiang: Whether the judge believes it or not, there will come a day when you will find yourself sitting down here!
(Pu Zhiqiang picks up the microphone on the desk and tosses it back down, the microphone had never been turned on.)
Judge: Officers! Remove legal counsel from the courtroom! 

李翔第二辩护人：今天开庭审理是要查明事实，以确定你们在本案中的地位和作用，现在我问你第一个问题，公诉人和你辩护人问过了，当你向刘险峰推荐李翔时——对不起啊，我把你领导的名字不小心说出来了，他们有过面试聊天的，他是你们监察室的主任，是吗？你能把你们监察一室主任的名字，直接告诉法庭吗？
程文杰：他叫刘险峰。
李翔第二辩护人：4月8日中午碰头会的内容，还记得吗？
程文杰：那天中午的会，我能想起来的情节都向公安交代了，卷宗里都有记载的。
李翔第二辩护人：辩护人希望你向法庭说清楚。
审判长：法庭已经听清楚了，这个问题不要说了。
浦志强插话：我们作为诉讼代理人，要求法庭让他说清楚，你们每个人都有案卷，唯独我们没有案卷，这样打哑谜开庭不行。
审判长：诉讼代理人注意法庭纪律，没到你们发问的时候。
浦志强：但我们没有案卷，我们需要知道，法庭应该让他说清楚！
审判长：法庭决定不许你讲话！遵守法庭纪律！
浦志强：你法庭必须遵守法律！你凭什么不允许我们阅卷？！
. . . .
审判长（11点5分左右）：上午，刚才，控辩双方，对被告人程文杰已经进行了详尽发问，法庭听清楚了，因此，本庭将不再安排诉讼代理人对被告人发问。。。。。
吴鹏彬：你凭什么不让我们发问？我这里有几十个问题要问他的，我保证我要问的问题，不会跟公诉人和辩护人问过的重复！你为什么不让我们发问？
浦志强：法律赋予被害人的权利，你们凭什么要剥夺？！你们到底是怕什么？！
审判长：请诉讼代理人遵守法庭秩序！你们必须尊重审判长！
浦志强：那也要你尊重法律啊！你背后就是国徽！你的权力是法律赋予你的，你没有权力践踏法律！
审判长：法庭现在不许你们说话！法庭已经决定，不再安排你们发问被告人！
浦志强：是这样啊！啊！你就这样啊！！我再次申请你回避！
审判长：请注意态度，和对审判长讲话的语气！法庭已经决定过了，不许你再次提出回避申请！
（吴鹏彬大呼，旁听席上，除於其一父亲、遗孀、大舅子站起呼喊抗议，其余六七十位旁听人士，都比较安静。）
（约有十来位法警，簇拥到浦志强、吴鹏彬两人的身后。）
浦志强：审判长你信不信，总会有一天，你会坐到台下这个位置上去的！
（浦志强拿起桌上的话筒，墩在桌子上，这只话筒本来就是没有声音的。）
审判长：法警！将诉讼代理人带离法庭！

Bo Xilai Found Guilty of Corruption - A Chronicle of Censorship of the Case

The following is a timeline of the events and censorship leading up to Bo Xilai's conviction.

2007

Wang Lijun (王立军), then police chief of the city of Jinzhou in northeast China's Liaoning Province, first meets Bogu Kailai (薄谷开来), wife of Bo Xilai (薄熙来).

2009

April: While Wang was serving as the chief of Chongqing's Public Security Bureau, one of Wang's immediate family members was transferred to a working position in Beijing. Not having a residence in Beijing, Wang's relative received two apartments in Beijing bought by Xu Ming (徐明), board chairman of the Dalian Shide Group Co. Ltd. (大连实德集团有限公司) at a price of 2.85 million yuan (449,583 U.S. dollars). The apartments were registered under the name of Wang's father-in-law. After the deal, Wang gave his thanks to Xu in person.

2010

May: The state-sponsored Hualong website publishes a report entitled "42 National Internet Media CEOs Sign 'Hongyan Declaration' In Chongqing" (全国42家网络媒体CEO重庆签署《红岩宣言》), stating that Beijing Internet media had convened a "Seventh Beijing Internet Media Red Native Land - Chongqing Circuit" (第七届北京网络媒体红色故土-重庆行”). The report went on to say that during a "Conference on New Media and Red Culture" (新媒体与红色文化传承研讨会) held during the event, 42 national Internet media outlets including Sina, Netease, and Baidu, signed a "media declaration" entitled "Succeed the Hongyan Spirit, Inherit the Red Culture" (继承红岩精神 传承红色文化).

In a report entitled "The Internet Can Feel the Pulse of the People, Chongqing Welcomes Objective and Constructive Criticism" (网络可以感受民意脉动 重庆欢迎客观善意批评), the state-sponsored Chongqing Business Post quoted Bo Xilai as telling the assembled Internet executives:

The "Hongyan Declaration" that you have issued is very good. Media, including Internet media, have an important function, which is to daily mold the spiritual world of China's citizens. China has 400 million Internet users, and many are young people, and they are full of vitality and vigor. They are the future of the motherland, and it is the duty of the media to create healthy information platforms for them, and provide them guidance through their services. Comrades involved in the Internet, who hold to their bosom the revitalization of the great resurgence of the Chinese people, can in the course of their work not only make greater contributions, but also feel joy in their hearts and the value of human life.
你们发表的《红岩宣言》很好。包括网络在内的媒体，有个重要功能，就是每天都在塑造国民的精神世界。中国有4亿网民，很多是年轻人，他们朝气蓬勃，充满活力，是祖国的未来，为他们营造一个积极健康的信息平台，在服务中实现引导，是媒体的使命。搞网络的同志，胸有中华民族伟大复兴的神圣事业，在工作中，不仅可以做出更大贡献，也会感到内心的幸福和人生的价值。

2011

January: Baidu is censoring search results for "Bo Xilai," and has banned users from setting up PostBar (Tieba 贴吧) forums on Bo Xilai.

August 12: Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜 - son of Gu Kailai and Bo Xilai) tries to meet with Wang, but Wang refuses.

November 12: After a discussion with Bogu Kailai, Wang arranges surveillance and control efforts targeted at Neil Heywood under the pretext that Heywood may have committed drug-related crimes. Gu Kailai asks Neil Heywood to come to Chongqing.

November 13: Heywood flies from Beijing to Chongqing and checks into the Lucky Holiday hotel (南山丽景度假酒店).

November 14: Bogu Kailai and Zhang Xiaojun, then an employee of the general office of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and a family assistant for Bogu Kailai, poison Heywood at the Lucky Holiday Hotel in Chongqing.

November 15: After talking on the phone with Bogu Kailai, Wang is informed that she had met Heywood in the hotel and had a drink with him. Wang instructs Guo Weiguo, then deputy chief of the Chongqing's Public Security Bureau and a close friend of Bogu Kailai, to handle the case, but does not tell Guo or other policemen that he possesses clues and recorded evidence of Bogu Kailai's involvement. Heywood is found dead in a Chongqing hotel room. Chinese authorities rule that the cause of death is alcohol poisoning, and his body is cremated.

November 26: the Wall Street Journal publishes an article entitled "Children of the Revolution" stating: "One evening early this year, a red Ferrari pulled up at the U.S. ambassador's residence in Beijing, and the son of one of China's top leaders stepped out, dressed in a tuxedo." The leader was Bo Xilai, and his son was Bo Guagua.

The screenshots were taken on November 27 and November 30, respectively, and show that, while on November 27 Tencent's Weibo microblogging platform was returning over 7,000 results for a search for Bo Guagua's name, three days later the same search returned a notice saying "In accordance with relevant laws, regulations, and policies, search results have not been displayed." (根据相关法律法规和政策，搜索结果未予显示。)

These screenshots show that Sina Weibo was also censoring searches for "Bo Guagua," and Baidu had banned users from setting up PostBar (Tieba 贴吧) forums on Bo Guagua.

2012

January 28: Wang reports to Bo Xilai that Bogu Kailai was highly suspected in the murder of Neil Heywood.

January 29: Bo Xilai rebukes Wang and slaps him in the face. Wang subsequently asks Wang Zhi (王智), Wang Pengfei (王鹏飞), and Li Yang (李阳) to go to his office and rearrange the November 15, 2011 case file.

February 2: Wang Lijun's is removed from his position as chief of Chongqing's Public Security Bureau.

Around this time, three staff members working closely with Wang are put under illegal investigation.

February 6: Under the pretext of discussing business, Wang cancels his original work arrangements and enters the U.S. Consulate General in Chengdu at 2:31 p.m.

February 7: Wang leaves the U.S. Consulate General in Chengdu of his own volition at 11:35 p.m.

February 8: At 11:30 am, Xinhua publishes a report stating:

At 10:54 on the morning on the 8th, the Chongqing city government's press office used Xinhua's official Weibo to publish information saying "Based on information, Deputy Mayor Wang Lijun is, pursuant to agreement, currently undergoing convalescent therapy for long-term work overload, high levels of mental stress, and severe physical indisposition.
8日上午10点54分，重庆市政府新闻办通过新华网官方微博发布消息，称“据悉，王立军副市长因长期超负荷工作，精神高度紧张，身体严重不适，经同意，现正在接受休假式的治疗。”

These screenshots show that Sina Weibo was not censoring searches for Wang Lijun at 9:30 am on the morning of February 8, then an hour later it began censoring that term, then it stopped censoring the term again after the Xinhua announcement.

Below, the left-hand screenshot shows that at around 3 pm a search on Baidu for "Wang Lijun" was returning apparently uncensored results. The right-hand screenshot shows that, about an hour later, the same search on Baidu returned a notice saying "In accordance with relevant laws, regulations, and policies, some search results have not been displayed." (根据相关法律法规和政策，部分搜索结果未予显示。) Search results were restricted to about dozen websites operated by the central government and the Communist Party.

These screenshots, also taken on February 8, show that whereas a search in the morning for "Wang Lijun defects to American Consulate" (王立军叛逃美领馆) returned hundreds of results, the same search that evening returned no results, just a notice saying "Search results may not comply with relevant laws, regulations, and policies, and have not been displayed." (搜索结果可能不符合相关法律法规和政策，未予显示。).

February 10: Li Yinhe (李银河) posts what she claims to be an "Open Letter From Wang Lijun" dated February 3, 2012, on her Caijing Magazine blog. The letter begins:

By the time everyone reads this letter, I'll probably either be dead or detained. I want to take a moment to explain to the world why I did all of this. There is one basic explanation: I do not wish to see Bo Xilai, the greatest hypocrite in the Communist Party, be able to continue his act. If evil politicians like him rule the state, it will be the greatest catastrophe for people of China and the greatest misfortune for China's future.
当大家看到这封信的时候，我或许已不在人世或许已失去了自由。我想向全世界解释一下我做这一切的原因。归根结底是一条： 我不希望看到党内最大的伪君子薄熙来能再继续表演下去，如果这样的奸臣当道，这将是中国未来最大的不幸和民族的灾难。

These screenshots show Lin Yinhe's blog post as it appeared before and after it was deleted.

Below, the top-left screenshot was taken on February 11, and shows that on that day a search for "Wang Lijun Open Letter" (王立军 公开信) on Sina's Weibo returned over 1,700 results. The bottom left and right-hand screenshots were taken in the morning of February 12, and show that the same search on both Sina and Tencent Weibos was returning no results, just a notice saying that search results may be illegal and cannot be displayed.

On the morning of February 10, the author Han Han published a blog post entitled "Chongqing's Beautiful Drama" (重庆美剧 ). The left hand screenshot was taken on the morning of February 10, 2012 (Beijing time), and shows Han Han's blog post as it appeared a thttp://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4701280b0102e11n.html. The right hand screenshot was taken at 6 pm the same day, and shows the title remained, but all of the text had been deleted.

February 21: The screenshots show that at some time between 10 am and 9:30 pm on February 21, 2012, Baidu stopped returning search results for the phrase "Bo Xilai Tenders Resignation" (薄熙来 请辞) and instead returned a notice saying "Search results may not comply with local laws, regulations, and policies, and have not been displayed." (搜索结果可能不符合相关法律法规和政策，未予显示。)

March 15: Xinhua reports:

Zhang Dejiang has been appointed Party chief of Chongqing, replacing Bo Xilai, according to a decision of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee announced Thursday. Bo will no longer serve as secretary, standing committee member or member of the CPC Chongqing municipal committee.

The screenshots show Baidu search results for "Bo Xilai Removed" (薄熙来 被免职) taken ten hours apart on March 15. The left hand screenshot was taken around noon, and shows Baidu's results have no censorship notice and include results from various "Weibo" micro-blogging platforms. The right-hand screenshot was taken around 10 pm the same day, and shows that Baidu is no longer returning Weibo results, and is displaying a notice saying "In accordance with relevant laws, regulations, and policies, some search results have not been displayed." (根据相关法律法规和政策，部分搜索结果未予显示。)

These screenshots show that, while a search for "Bo Xilai" (薄熙来) on Sina's Weibo microblogging platform returned over 1.2 million search results on March 15, 2012, on March 17 the same search returns a notice saying "In accordance with relevant laws, regulations, and policies, search results for 'Bo Xilai' have not been displayed." (根据相关法律法规和政策，“薄熙来”搜索结果未予显示).

March 19: A document entitled "Report on the Investigation and Assessment of Wang Lijun's Personal Visit to the American Consulate in Chengdu" (王立军私自进入美国驻成都总领馆并滞留事件进行调查评估的通报) begins to circulate on the Internet.

Below, the left-hand screenshot was taken at around 2 pm, March 19, 2012, and shows that a search for "Report on the Investigation and Assessment of Wang Lijun's Personal Visit to the American Consulate in Chengdu" (王立军私自进入美国驻成都总领馆并滞留事件进行调查评估的通报) on Baidu returned over 360,000 results. The right-hand screenshot was taken around 6:30 pm the same day, and shows that Baidu now returns around 30,000 search results (although there are only three pages) and a notice saying "In accordance with relevant laws, regulations, and policies, some search results have not been displayed." (根据相关法律法规和政策，部分搜索结果未予显示。)

March 26: The British government asks the Chinese government to investigate Heywood's death.

These screenshots show several examples of how several websites in China began censoring information at that time.

March 31: The Economy and Nation Weekly publishes an article entitled "Dalian Shide's Missing Officer" (大连实德迷局) stating that on March 15, Xu Ming had been subjected to "controls by relevant government agencies" on suspicion of involvement in a "economic case."

These screenshots show that on April 4, Sina's and Tencent's weibo microblogging platforms were censoring searches for "Xu Ming" (徐明).

April 10: Bo Xilai is suspended from his Politburo and top Communist Party posts. Government announces Gu Kailai is being investigated for Heywood's death.

These screenshots show that a search for "Wang Lijun" (王立军) on Baidu at around 4 pm on April 10, 2012 returned results from foreign web sites like Wikipedia and Yahoo.com. The same search done at 10 pm the same day now includes a notice saying "In accordance with relevant laws, regulations, and policies, a portion of search results have not been displayed." (根据相关法律法规和政策，部分搜索结果未予显示。), and the foreign web sites are gone.

The screenshots show that when a user did a search for "Gu Kailai" (谷开来) on April 9, Baidu's first page of search results included results from Wikipedia and Hudong. At some point between April 9,  and April 10, Baidu began limiting search results for "Gu Kailai" (谷开来) to a white list of about a dozen websites controlled by the central government and the Communist Party, as well as Baidu's own Baike.

These screenshots show that at some point between 11 pm on April 10, 2012 and 8 am on April 11, 2012, Baidu began limiting search results for "Bo Guagua" (薄瓜瓜) to a white list of about a dozen websites controlled by the central government and the Communist Party, as well as Baidu's own Baike.

As these screenshots from April 11 show, Sina Weibo was also censoring searches for terms related to the case, including "Bo Xilai," "BXL," "Gu Kailai," "Bo Guagua," "Heywood," and "Wang Lijun." (王立军)

These screenshots show that the following day Sogou began censoring searches for "Zhang Xiaojun" (张晓军). On April 12, searches on Sogou returned over 180,000 results from websites including Hexun, Sohu, and QQ. By April 13, however, Sogou was returning around 2,000 results, all of them from about dozen websites controlled by the central government and the Communist Party.

These screenshots show that, shortly after China's state run media began publicly discussing the Heywood case, Baidu stopped completely censoring searches for "Heywood," and instead began restricting search results to its strict white list.

April 25: Bo Guagua writes an open letter to his school paper, the Harvard Crimson, saying his education has been funded by scholarships and his mother's earnings as a lawyer. He says he has no comment to make about the investigation.

May 17: The New York Times reports that Patrick Henri Devillers has been implicated in the business affairs of Gu Kailai.

This screenshot shows that a search for "Devillers" (多维尔) on Sina Weibo on May 17 returned no results, just a notice saying "In accordance with relevant laws, regulations, and policies, search results for "Devillers" have not been displayed" (根据相关法律法规和政策，“多维尔”搜索结果未予显示).

June 17: Cambodia detains French architect Patrick Devillers.

June 22: Cambodia’s Foreign Ministry said the country had no plans to extradite Patrick Devillers to China.

These screenshots, taken on June 22, show that, while a search for "Devillers" (多维尔) on Baidu returns (apparently) uncensored search results, searching for "Devillers extradition" (多维尔 引渡) results in a notice saying "In accordance with relevant laws, regulations, and policies, some search results have not been displayed" (根据相关法律法规和政策，部分搜索结果未予显示), and the results that Baidu has provided were restricted to about a dozen websites controlled by the central government and the Communist Party.

These screenshots, taken on July 7, 2012, show that for searches for Bo Xilai, Bo Guagua, and Gu Kailai, Baidu claims to have found 765k, 12k, and 8.4k results, respectively. In each case, however, Baidu only returned only one result - its own Baidu Baike article.

These screenshots were taken on July 15, and show that by now Baidu has reverted to its prior censorship of Bo Xilai, Gu Kailai, and Bo Guagua, with the former being on the broad white list and the latter two on the strict white list.

July 17: Patrick Devillers flies to Beijing.

July 22: Wang is formally arrested by the State Security Bureau of Chengdu for defection after the Chengdu Municipal People's Procuratorate approves the arrest.

July 26: Gu Kailai and Zhang Xiaojun are charged with Heywood's murder by the People's Procuratorate in Hefei, Anhui province.

August 2: After the investigation is completed, the case is handed over to the Chengdu Municipal People's Procuratorate for examination before prosecution.

August 7: Bo Guagua sends an email to CNN saying: "As I was cited as a motivating factor for the crimes accused of my mother, I have already submitted my witness statement."

August 9: Gu Kailai and Zhang Xiaojun are tried in Heifei.

These screenshots show that Sina Weibo was censoring "Hefei Court" and "Body Stand In."

August 20: A court in Hefei, Anhui, finds Gu Kailai guilty of murdering Neil Heywood and gave her a suspended death sentence. It also found Zhang Xiaojun guilty and sentenced him to nine years imprisonment.

These screenshots show that, shortly afterwards, Sina Weibo stopped censoring "Gu Kailai."

September 24: The Chengdu Intermediate People's Court finds Wang 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 sentences him to a term of 15 years imprisonment.

September 28: Xinhua reports that the Political Bureau of the Communist Party Central Committee had decided that Bo Xilai would be expelled from the Communist Party of China and removed from public office.

September 29: Xinhua reports that the Standing Committee of the Chongqing Municipal People's Congress had decided to remove Bo from his post as deputy to the 11th National People's Congress.

These screenshots show that Tencent Weibo stopped censoring searches for "Wang Lijun" within hours of the court announcing the verdict. Sina Weibo also stopped censoring searches for Wang's name at about the same time as the verdict was announced.

2013

July 25: Xinhua publishes an article entitled "Bo Xilai Indicted for Bribery, Corruption and Power Abuse."

These screenshots show that on July 24, both Sina and Tencent were censoring searches for "Bo Xilai" (薄熙来) on their Weibo products, and that on July 25 both companies stopped censoring searches for that term.

August 22: China's official news service Xinhua published an article entitled "Bo Xilai Stands Trial for Bribery, Embezzlement, Abuse of Power." An excerpt:

Bo Xilai, former Communist Party of China chief of Chongqing Municipality, stood open trial Thursday on charges of taking bribes, embezzlement and abuse of power at the Jinan Intermediate People's Court in east China's Shandong Province.

The trial started at 8:43 a.m. The official microblog account of the court will update the trial proceedings.

September 19: Portions of a letter written by Bo to family members while in prison begins circulating on the Internet.

These screenshots show that Tencent Weibo was censoring searches for "Bo Xilai Prison Letter to Family" (薄熙来狱中家书), and Sina Weibo was deleting posts referencing the letter.

September 21: At 11:24 am Xinhua published an article entitled "Bo Xilai Sentenced to Life in Prison for Bribery, Embezzlement, Power Abuse." According to that report:

Bo Xilai, former secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and a former member of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Sunday for bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power. 

He was deprived of political rights for life.

These screenshots show that on September 21 Sina Weibo was censoring searches for "Cherish the Memory of Bo Xilai" (怀念 薄熙来), "Support Bo Xilai" (拥护 薄熙来), and "Chongqing Model" (重庆模式).

Several of China's major search engines were also censoring searches for ""Chongqing Model" (重庆模式).