Censoring a Commemoration
What June 4-Related Search Terms are Blocked on Weibo Today
As citizens in China commemorate the twenty-fourth anniversary of June 4th today, we identified 71 keywords that are currently blocked from searching on Sina Weibo.
As citizens in China and around the world commemorate the twenty-fourth anniversary of the June 4th incident in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, Internet censorship in China around this sensitive date has now become expected and almost routine. Though, as Tech in Asia notes, the censorship this year likely won’t be as intense as it was during the twentieth anniversary—when hundreds of sites went down for so-called “Internet maintenance”—and as websites consider more subtle forms of filtering out June 4-related posts, much overt censorship will still take place on sites behind the Great Firewall, including seemingly trivial steps like removing the candle emoticon from being inserted into Sina Weibo posts.
Another way the social media site Sina Weibo censors its site—alongside manual deletions by human censors of sensitive content and other steps—is by blocking the user from searching for specific keywords, and instead returning a message that says no results can be displayed. Though the blocking of keywords is a blunt tactic that often cuts off access to many legitimate posts—in addition to sometimes being ineffective as users switch to homophones or other code words—it is still widely employed on the site. Below are seventy-one keywords (along with brief translations and notes by researchers here at Citizen Lab) that are currently blocked from searching on Sina Weibo.
| Keyword | Notes/Translation | Triggered By |
|---|---|---|
| JUNE4事件 | June 4 incident | JUNE4 |
| 天安门 | Tiananmen Square | |
| 坦克人 | Tank man | 坦克 |
| liu四 | Jun-04 | |
| 六四 | In reference to the Tiananmen Square protests that occurred on June 4th, 1989. This is literally the numbers “64”. | |
| 学潮 | Campus upheaval | |
| ⅥⅣ | Roman numerals for 6 (VI) and 4 (IV), referring to June 4, 1989. | |
| June 4th | ||
| June 4th | ||
| 陆肆 | Another way of writing 六四, or Liu Si, in reference to the Tiananmen Square protests that occurred on June 4th, 1989. | |
| 五月三十五 | May 35th | |
| 瓶反鹿死 | (contextual translation) Redress June Fourth | |
| six四 | June 4 [1989] | |
| six月four日 | June 4 [1989] | |
| TAM事件 | Tiananmen incident | |
| 王维林 | Wang Weilin (Tank man) | |
| 春夏之交 | Between Spring and Summer | |
| 武警镇压 | Repression by armed police | |
| 河殇 | River Elegy | |
| 6.4 | This is a reference to the Tiananmen Square crackdowns on June 4, 1989. | |
| six four | June Fourth | |
| six-quatre | ||
| 工自联 | Capital/Beijing Autonomous Workers Federation | |
| 广场 | Square (or plaza) | |
| 坦克 | tank | |
| 纪念 | Remembrance/memorial | |
| 戒严 | Martial law | |
| 平反 | Redress; vindicate | |
| 维园 | Victoria Park (Hong Kong) | |
| 学生领袖 | Student leaders | |
| 学运 | Student movement | |
| 长安街 | Chang’an Avenue | |
| 鎮壓 | Repression | |
| 高自联 | Beijing Autonomous University Students Union | |
| liusi | Six four (June Fourth) | |
| 自由花 | Flower of Freedom | |
| 8964 | Simple code for June 4, 1989. | |
| 四二六社论 | The April 26 Editorial | |
| 历史的伤口 | The wound in history | |
| 六月的第四天 | Fourth day of June | |
| 六si | Six four | |
| 六four | Six four | |
| 六肆 | Jun-04 | |
| 八平方纪念 | Eight squared memorial (8 to the power of 8 = 64) | 纪念 |
| six*4 | ||
| 屠杀大学生 | Massacre of university students | 屠杀 |
| 国殇之柱 | Pillar of shame | 国殇 |
| 61后三天 | 61 three days later | |
| 61之后三天 | 61 three days later | |
| 民主女神 | Goddess of Democracy | |
| ⑥④ | six four | |
| 8qb4 | 8964 (meme) | |
| 五月35日 | May 35 (aka June 4) | |
| 平反VIIV | Redress June 4 | |
| 5月三十五 | May 35 (June 4) | |
| 己巳年己巳月乙未日 | ji si year, ji si month, yi mo day | |
| tank man | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_Man | tank |
| 三月九十六号 | March 96th (June 4) | |
| 四月六十五号 | April 65th (meme for June 4) | |
| ⑥㈣ | ||
| 毋忘阝坴镸聿 | Do not forget June 4 (meme) | |
| 平*反 | Redress; vindicate | |
| 李鹏日记 | Li Peng Diaries (Book) | 李鹏 |
| lipeng日记 | Li Peng Diaries (Book) | lipeng |
| 八9六4 | 89 64 | |
| Blood is on the square | square | |
| 六亖 | Jun-04 | |
| 黄雀行动 | Operation Yellowbird, the Hong Kong movement to help activists leave mainland | |
| 八九學運 | 1989 student movement | |
| 八九運動 | 1989 Movement | |
| six.4 |
Words related to June 4 that are blocked from searching on Sina Weibo as of 2013-06-03 16:00:00 UTC
This test was performed by Jason Q. Ng utilizing research by Jeffrey Knockel into words that trigger surveillance and censorship on Sina UC and Tom-Skype. Using Knockel’s list of known sensitive words related to June 4 on those chat clients, we tested them on Sina Weibo on June 3, 12:00 PM EST, discovering the above keywords to be blocked from searching on Weibo. See Blocked on Weibo for more information about blocked keywords on Sina Weibo.
Jason Q. Ng is the author of Blocked on Weibo, a book about censorship and sensitive topics in Chinese social media. Other recent topics of research include online reaction to the 2012 Party Congress in China and anti-Japanese discourse on Sina Weibo. He previously worked as a research consultant at China Digital Times and a book editor, having graduated with degrees in English from Brown University and East Asian Studies from the University of Pittsburgh. Ng will be working with the Citizen Lab on various research projects over the coming summer.
