Latest headlines from China Digital Times, covering world, with clear attribution and direct links to the original publisher.
CDT presents a monthly series of censored content that has been added to our “404 Deleted Content Archive.” Each month, we publish a summary of content blocked or deleted (often yielding the message “404: content not found”) from Chinese platforms such as WeChat, Weibo, Douyin (TikTok’s counterpart in the Chinese market), Xiaohongshu (RedNote), Bilibili, Zhihu, […]
On Monday, the Wuhan Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism announced the conclusion of its investigation into an operatic performance by comedian Guo Degang back in July, and said that it would levy hefty fines on the organizers and theatrical venue involved. The investigation purportedly stemmed from a complaint by an unknown member of the […]
At The New York Times, Li Yuan writes that Beijing’s efforts to cultivate an air of uniform "positive energy" online have been looking increasingly strained: Discontent has occasionally erupted after disasters, scandals or particularly brutal government actions. But something feels different lately. The pessimism is persistent. It has become part of the everyday social media […]
Chinese cyberspace authorities announced that ten people from Tibet and several other provinces have been hit with unspecified administrative punishments (likely fines) for “spreading rumors” online about the death toll and scale of the massive debris-flow that destroyed the Gyirong checkpoint on the China-Nepal border late last month. Nearly two weeks after an upstream glacial […]
All platforms, please find, delete, and block video that fully or partially matches the attached samples. Use OCR to extract text for automatic deletion and blocking, and supplement with ASR [Automatic Speech Recognition] [Chinese] This directive, which emerged last week via the X account Teacher Li Is Not Your Teacher, was reportedly issued in June […]
On the morning of August 26, a glacial collapse caused catastrophic flooding and mudslides on the China-Nepal border, destroying a port and border crossing in Gyirong County in Shigatse, Tibet, and inundating communities on both sides of the border. Nepalese authorities have confirmed 1,050 deaths, with nearly 4,000 people still missing. Chinese state media reported […]
A schlocky, ultra-low-budget Chinese animated film with the title “The Cow Comes” or “Here Comes the Cow” (牛来, Niú Lái) has become the surprise hit of the summer, with its clumsy (but not AI-generated) animation, goofy plot, and earnest attitude inspiring thousands of memes and creating a carnival-like atmosphere among bemused audiences—many of whom were […]
In the censored post translated below, blogger 竹不倒 Zhúbùdǎo ("Unyielding Bamboo") responds to reporting by investigative journalist Li Wei’ao on two recent cases of alleged sexual assault by officials. The post first notes other related censorship, and highlights the perennial issue of official statements dictating what is reported, how, and when, which even former Global […]
News that comedian Guo Degang is under investigation by the Wuhan Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism for a playful riff on an old “red tune” has set alarm bells ringing about the state of artistic censorship in China. While playing the popular role of “mad monk” Ji Gong in a theatrical performance in Wuhan […]
This post from WeChat account 百里曾游 Bǎilǐ Céngyóu ("100 Li Once Traveled"), deleted at the source but archived at CDT Chinese, describes the gauntlet of security checks, ID-card scans, pat-downs, bag-checks, book-checks, hem-lifts, and shoe-squeezes involved in visiting Zhengyangmen, also known as Qianmen, the towering gate at the southern edge of Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. The […]
The announcement that two Chinese mathematicians have won the Fields Medal, awarded every four years to outstanding mathematicians under 40, has been met with an outpouring of national pride on Chinese social media, as well as debate about the state of Chinese academia and whether there is enough domestic support and encouragement for emerging academic […]
