Ebook302 pages1 hour
Blocked on Weibo: What Gets Suppressed on Chinas Version of Twitter (And Why)
By Jason Q. Ng
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this ebook
Though often described with foreboding buzzwords such as "The Great Firewall" and the "censorship regime," Internet regulation in China is rarely either obvious or straightforward. This was the inspiration for China specialist Jason Q. Ng to write an innovative computer script that would make it possible to deduce just which terms are suppressed on China's most important social media site, Sina Weibo. The remarkable and groundbreaking result is Blocked on Weibo, which began as a highly praised blog and has been expanded here to list over 150 forbidden keywords, as well as offer possible explanations why the Chinese government would find these terms sensitive.
As Ng explains, Weibo (roughly the equivalent of Twitter), with over 500 million registered accounts, censors hundreds of words and phrases, ranging from fairly obvious terms, including "tank" (a reference to the "Tank Man" who stared down the Chinese army in Tiananmen Square) and the names of top government officials (if they can't be found online, they can't be criticized), to deeply obscure references, including "hairy bacon" (a coded insult referring to Mao's embalmed body).
With dozens of phrases that could get a Chinese Internet user invited to the local police station "for a cup of tea" (a euphemism for being detained by the authorities), Blocked on Weibo offers an invaluable guide to sensitive topics in modern-day China as well as a fascinating tour of recent Chinese history.
As Ng explains, Weibo (roughly the equivalent of Twitter), with over 500 million registered accounts, censors hundreds of words and phrases, ranging from fairly obvious terms, including "tank" (a reference to the "Tank Man" who stared down the Chinese army in Tiananmen Square) and the names of top government officials (if they can't be found online, they can't be criticized), to deeply obscure references, including "hairy bacon" (a coded insult referring to Mao's embalmed body).
With dozens of phrases that could get a Chinese Internet user invited to the local police station "for a cup of tea" (a euphemism for being detained by the authorities), Blocked on Weibo offers an invaluable guide to sensitive topics in modern-day China as well as a fascinating tour of recent Chinese history.
Related to Blocked on Weibo
Related ebooks
The Accidental Capitalist: A People's Story of the New China Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWe the Elites: Why the US Constitution Serves the Few Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Performative State: Public Scrutiny and Environmental Governance in China Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHard Times Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSilicon Alleys Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKuchmagate: And Collapse of the Orange Idea Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNothing But the Now: Seven Short Stories by WEN Zhen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKhabzela Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInsurgent Media from the Front: A Media Activism Reader Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBrothers in Arms: Chinese Aid to the Khmer Rouge, 1975–1979 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Open Minds: Academic freedom and freedom of speech of Australia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConcrete Utopianism: The Politics of Temporality and Solidarity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRed List: MI5 and British Intellectuals in the Twentieth Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSignal: 08: A Journal of International Political Graphics and Culture Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrontiers of World Socialism Studies- Vol.I: Yellow Book of World Socialism - Year 2013 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Bottom Line: Unfortunate Side Effects of Capitalist Culture Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnfinished Utopia: Nowa Huta, Stalinism, and Polish Society, 1949–56 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTear Gas: From the Battlefields of WWI to the Streets of Today Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Writings of Karl Radek: The "Left Opposition" in Soviet Russia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBiomedical Odysseys: Fetal Cell Experiments from Cyberspace to China Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Dismantle the NHS in 10 Easy Steps: The Blueprint That The Government Does Not Want You To See Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDark Dark Policing Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMurder in the Time of Covid Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMaking and Unmaking Nations: War, Leadership, and Genocide in Modern Africa Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeconstructing South Park: Critical Examinations of Animated Transgression Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Racial Imaginary of the Cold War Kitchen: From Sokol’niki Park to Chicago’s South Side Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLaw and Order: Street Crime, Civil Unrest, and the Crisis of Liberalism in the 1960s Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnti-Hero: Memories of a Black Bloc Anarchist Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDebunking the Myth of America's Poodle: Great Britain Wants War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRise of the Red Engineers: The Cultural Revolution and the Origins of China's New Class Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Politics For You
The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on the U.S.-Israeli War on the Palestinians Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Republic by Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear: Trump in the White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Capitalism and Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Speechless: Controlling Words, Controlling Minds Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Reset: And the War for the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daily Stoic: A Daily Journal On Meditation, Stoicism, Wisdom and Philosophy to Improve Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Anarchist Cookbook Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Get Trump: The Threat to Civil Liberties, Due Process, and Our Constitutional Rule of Law Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Essential Chomsky Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Humanity Archive: Recovering the Soul of Black History from a Whitewashed American Myth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blackout: How Black America Can Make Its Second Escape from the Democrat Plantation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Blocked on Weibo
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
Blocked on Weibo - Jason Q. Ng
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1