June 4, or ‘internet maintenance day‘, is a busy day for government censors and their collaborationists in private industry as they struggle to wipe all mention of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre from the Chinese web.
You can see what is being censored in real time using WeiboSuite. Despite Sina’s best efforts however, some posts are getting through, as Chinese netizens are nothing if not wily.
The SCMP is doing a fantastic job collecting what is slipping past the censors, check out their live blog here.
State media has been largely silent on the anniversary, though the English edition of the Global Times published a typically awful editorial in praise of censorship:
Through the Internet, Chinese people are becoming more knowledgeable about democracy and freedom. Although this virtual community has bred some political and moral traps, Internet regulation has to be carried out until those spreading adverse remarks fear the strength of the public interest.
’64’ (June forth) made into popular weibo search and is displayed on search index. No related info in results. twitter.com/GreatFireChina…
— GreatFire.org (@GreatFireChina) June 4, 2013
Hundreds of Weibo users have shared the following post from the official Xinhua news agency, commemorating the publication of the first edition of a CPC-backed paper in 1925, the paper’s name was ‘Bloodshed Daily’.
This photo, of the Goddess of Democracy, was shared by a student protester’s daughter on Instagram:
The green light says my TV is on… #watchingBBConJune4 twitpic.com/cv5snp
— Mark MacKinnon/马凯 (@markmackinnon) June 4, 2013
my rubber ducky Tank Man re-post on Weibo down in less than 60 seconds/ wow, censors really ON today!
— China Media Project (@cmphku) June 4, 2013
@stephenrplatt Just asked group of 35 undergrads from major US university visiting China about today’s date. Not one made the connection.
— Jeremiah Jenne (@GraniteStudio) June 4, 2013
@wenyunchao @hu_jia @hnjhj 科大行動@香港科技大學: 感謝網上有心人願意借出道具坦克，放於香港賽馬會大堂作為六四展品。坦克上血染般的訊息帶出製作者，甚至每位學生和市民對八九民運的執著、堅持和信念… twitter.com/rzzzzzzzzzzl/s…
— rzzzzzzzzzzl (@rzzzzzzzzzzl) June 3, 2013
