CDT presents a month-to-month collection of censored content material that has been added to our “404 Deleted Content material Archive.” Every month, we publish a abstract of content material blocked or deleted (usually yielding the message “404: content material not discovered”) from Chinese language platforms corresponding to WeChat, Weibo, Douyin (TikTok’s counterpart within the Chinese language market), Xiaohongshu (RedNote), Bilibili, Zhihu, Douban, and others. Though this content material archived by CDT Chinese language editors represents solely a small fraction of the web content material that disappears every day from the Chinese language web, it offers invaluable perception into which subjects are thought-about “delicate” over time by the Celebration-state, our on-line world authorities, and platform censors. Our totally searchable Chinese language-language “404 Deleted Content material Archive,” at present accommodates 2,320 deleted articles, essays, and different items of content material. The entry for every deleted merchandise consists of the creator/social media account identify, the unique publishing platform, the subject material, the date of deletion, and extra info.
Beneath is Half One in all CDT’s abstract of deleted content material from November 2025. Between November 1-30, CDT Chinese language added 30 new articles, principally from WeChat, to the archive. Matters focused for deletion in November included: the catastrophic highrise hearth at Hong Kong’s Wang Fuk Court docket; criticism of Tencent for censoring investigative reporting from reputed Shanghai media outlet The Paper; Sanae Takaichi’s controversial feedback on Taiwan and their results on Sino-Japanese relations and Chinese language tourism to Japan; the plight of migrant staff returning to the countryside attributable to sluggish job prospects in cities; and ongoing makes an attempt by officers in Miangyang, Sichuan province to regulate public opinion a few critical phosphate air pollution drawback there. (Be aware that the dates on this abstract consult with when an article was revealed on the CDT web site, not when it was deleted from Chinese language social-media platforms.)
- “Unbiased Bookstores: Sustaining the Promise of Public Life,” WeChat account 蓝书屋 (Lán Shūwū, Blaues Haus Bibliothek)
November 1, 2025
In early November, there appeared an actual chance that Chengdu’s beloved You Xing Bookstore (有杏书店, Yǒu Xìng Shūdiàn) would quickly shut attributable to “power majeure.” This promoted an outpouring of tributes from clients and supporters; a few week later got here the welcome information that the bookstore had acquired a reprieve and would keep in enterprise. This now-deleted article from Blaues Haus Bibliothek (蓝书屋, Lán Shūwū, a Chinese language-language neighborhood library, occasion house, and basis in Hanover, Germany) recounts an look in Hanover by You Xing Bookstore founder Zhang Feng, who mentioned the important function of unbiased bookstores as neighborhood areas. Zhang compares China’s city bookstores of in the present day to Chengdu’s conventional tea homes: important public areas for socializing and dialogue.
- “Time’s Working Out for the Supreme Individuals’s Court docket To Act,” by Li Yuchen, WeChat account Spare Zhou Quan and Li Dong From Execution
November 1, 2025
This text describes the tireless efforts of Gao Fang, the spouse of defendant Zhou Quan, to avoid wasting him from execution. Zhou Quan and Li Dong are two migrant staff sentenced to dying for what prosecutors declare was their function in a 2016 gang-related melee in Kunming that killed two males. (Plenty of Zhou and Li’s co-defendants have been additionally convicted, however sentenced to lesser phrases.) The defendants’ households appealed to China’s Supreme Court docket, claiming that the judicial course of was corrupted, the boys have been unfairly scapegoated, the actual gangsters have been allowed to evade justice, and that important exculpatory proof (together with dashcam video) was withheld or altered. In a last-ditch effort to avoid wasting her husband, Gao Fang provided a one-million yuan reward to any member of the general public who might assist her find the lacking proof. Li Yuchen’s article notes: “That is in all probability the primary time in Chinese language judicial historical past {that a} relative of a prisoner going through execution has publicly provided a reward for unearthing key proof that must have been preserved by authorities authorities.” On October 31, Zhou and Li have been executed.
- “The Legend of Mt. Luojia Ought to Not Be Forgotten: Wuhan College’s ‘Liu Daoyu Period,’” WeChat account 學人Scholar (Xuérén Scholar)
November 7, 2025
A tribute to Liu Daoyu, a brave reformer and educator who died on November 7 on the age of 92. Throughout Liu’s tenure as president of Wuhan College from 1981-88, he fostered an open and liberal educational setting, main some to explain him because the “Cai Yuanpei of Wuhan College.” Liu’s reforms included introducing the educational credit score system; permitting college students to declare main and minor programs of examine, and to have extra freedom in course choice; permitting switch college students; organizing loans for college kids with monetary difficulties; and far more. After his abrupt dismissal in 1988 by political authorities, Liu maintained a busy schedule of academic analysis, writing, and lecturing, and continued to talk frankly in regards to the Chinese language academic system till his remaining years.
- “Mysterious ‘PhDs’ Infiltrate WeChat Group Chat on ‘Mianyang Authorities Response to Public Opinion’ and Handle to Get the Group Banned Inside a Week!” WeChat account The Scenario’s Sophisticated
November 7, 2025
One more deleted submit about citizen efforts to boost consciousness of great industrial air pollution in Mianyang, Sichuan province, from a WeChat account centered on environmental activism. (Not less than three posts from the identical account on the identical subject have been censored in October.) This quick submit provides solely a short abstract of the drama (described by the creator as “a real-life recreation of ‘Murderer’”) behind pollution-themed WeChat group chats that have been infiltrated by native officers claiming, variously, to be abnormal involved residents, or specialists with PhDs. On the backside of the submit, there’s a hyperlink to a Tencent Doc containing extra info, but it surely now shows a message stating that the doc has been blocked for violating Tencent Docs’ neighborhood guidelines.
- “The Cadres Have Left the Group Chat, and the PhDs Have Entered,” WeChat account The Scenario’s Sophisticated
November 7, 2025
A extra detailed piece on the WeChat group chat talked about above. Initially, a small 13-member group chat about industrial air pollution in Mianyang, Sichuan, was infiltrated by a number of “suspicious” people who appeared intent on dissuading activism and stoking worry among the many different members. One in all these was later unmasked as Xie Jun, a neighborhood CCP committee chairman chargeable for “ecological and environmental safety.” After the group chat’s organizers referred to as him out and commenced addressing him as “Chairman Xie,” he promptly left the chat. This was adopted by the formation of a second, bigger WeChat group particularly centered on the Mianyang native authorities’s efforts to “handle public opinion” in regards to the air pollution drawback. This group appeared to have a good bigger variety of infiltrators, some billing themselves as specialists with PhDs. After accumulating 256 members and tens of 1000’s of messages inside every week, the second group chat was abruptly shut down. “On this digital village of over 200 individuals,” writes the creator, “the curtain of night time has fallen. In a fog of suspicion, irony, and masquerading, who’re the actual involved residents? Who’re the employed assassins? Who’re the thrill-seeking onlookers? When reality turns into the scarcest useful resource, how can we distinguish pal from foe, or reality from falsehood?”
- “Shandong’s Heating Subsidy Requirements Reveal Stark Standing Gaps,” by Xu Peng, WeChat account Du Fu of Huanhua Creek
November 10, 2025
This text from current-affairs blogger Xu Peng’s now-deleted WeChat account Du Fu of Huanhua Creek examines the big disparities between winter-heating subsidies for various teams of individuals in Shandong province, the place heating subsidies vary as excessive as 4,100 yuan for retired department-level authorities officers, and 1,700 yuan for
retired firm staff. In the meantime, impoverished city households get 600 yuan, orphans and impoverished rural households solely 300 yuan, and the unemployed a mere 185 yuan. Xu argues that these subsidies ought to be need-based to guard essentially the most susceptible, moderately than status-based giveaways to the already prosperous.
- “A Grassroots Employee and Her Vanished Weekends Throughout 36 Days of Mosquito Eradication,” WeChat account 极昼工作室 (Jízhòu Gōngzuòshì, “Midnight Solar Studio”)
November 10, 2025
An extended article in regards to the rigors going through native residents and grassroots mosquito-eradication staff throughout a current outbreak of the mosquito-borne Chikungunya virus in Jiangmen, Guangdong province. Pseudonymous interviewees describe the day by day grind of fumigation, removing of stagnant water and potted crops, door-to-door schooling campaigns, distribution of mosquito coils, and extra. Some staff stated that that they had been working extra time and weekends, and needed to discipline frequent complaints from residents sad about what they seen as “pandemic-prevention overreach”—coming into individuals’s houses with out permission, for instance, or discarding crops that had been positioned on balconies. Though residents in Jiangmen and elsewhere are conscious of the hazards of Chikungunya fever, many stay deeply cautious of potential privateness violations after three traumatic years of “zero-COVID” insurance policies in China.
- “Studying Between the Traces of the Official Report on the ‘Bare Toddler,’” by Xiang Dongliang, WeChat account Constructive Opinions
November 11, 2025
Prolific blogger Xiang Dongliang weighs in on the case of a “bare toddler” who was filmed crawling round on the bottom on all fours at a automobile service station in Sichuan province. The viral video generated fury on-line, with many accusing the dad and mom of kid neglect and endangerment. Though native officers ultimately cleared the dad and mom of any wrongdoing, supplied them with social help companies, and allowed them to maintain custody of their youngsters, many Chinese language netizens remained skeptical of the choice and of the household’s avowed “free-range” parenting model. Xiang’s article argues that the intentionally imprecise language used within the official report conceals real neglect and abuse, and calls on the federal government to guard the kid by requiring frequent social service supervision of the household.
- “A County-Degree Official Lodged a Grievance Towards Me for Saying It’s Extremely Irregular for a County Celebration Secretary and Others to Be Reassigned to Deputy Bureau Chief Positions,” by Chu Chaoxin, WeChat account 衣者朝新 (Yīzhě Cháoxīn)
November 12, 2025
Former investigative journalist and current-affairs blogger Chu Chaoxin describes having his social media posts censored and being focused with complaints for elevating questions on a number of irregular personnel transfers in Yuncheng, Shanxi province. Regardless of the complaints and censorship, Chu was capable of leverage his journalistic contacts and discover three unbiased sources who confirmed that the officers have been, the truth is, demoted as punishment for violating Celebration guidelines on consuming and banqueting, though this reality was not made public.
- “My Two Years of Being Handled as a ‘Petitioner’ in Beijing,” by Jin Wei, WeChat account 金无忌 (Jīn Wújì)
November 13, 2025
Jin Wei, a lawyer and former journalist, recounts his two-year ordeal of police harassment and safety checks after being erroneously flagged as a “petitioner” by police in Beijing. Though Jin has by no means petitioned the federal government, he speculates that the error is likely to be associated to a COVID-19 vaccine situation from years prior. He describes being stopped, questioned, and delayed at subways, checkposts, and even vacationer websites, which has severely disrupted his life and work. Regardless of Jin’s repeated complaints and official police affirmation that he isn’t truly a petitioner, he stays caught up in an infinite bureaucratic loop of fixed surveillance and harassment.
- “By Arbitrarily Censoring Information Experiences, Has Tencent Appointed Itself as ‘Editor-in-Chief’ of the Media?” by Chen Qingbai, The Paper’s official WeChat account
November 14, 2025
This text from Shanghai-based information outlet The Paper was deleted from that outlet’s official WeChat account, however stays seen on The Paper’s web site. It’s strongly vital of Tencent’s censorship of The Paper’s video investigative report into e-commerce livestreamers making false claims in regards to the “height-boosting” properties of a model of milk powder. Tencent claims that it deleted the report as a result of it violated the image-rights of the livestreamers, regardless of authorized provisions permitting using such photographs for information reporting. The Paper argues that Tencent is performing as an “automated editor-in-chief,” overriding reliable journalism based mostly solely on a grievance from a industrial entity, and warns that this observe creates a type of “mushy censorship” through which a know-how platform’s industrial energy overrides the general public worth and authorized rights of investigative information retailers.
- “When Highly effective Nations Conduct ‘Deep-Sea Fishing Expeditions’ Towards China’s ‘Entrepreneurs,’” WeChat account 木蹊说 (Mù Qī Shuō, “Mu Qi Says”)
November 14, 2025
The phrase “deep-sea fishing,” which has grow to be ubiquitous in China, refers to predatory, for-profit policing that crosses jurisdictional boundaries. On this article, blogger Mu Qi discusses how some Western nations such because the U.S. and the U.Ok. have begun aggressively seizing the belongings of rich Chinese language nationals who fled overseas after participating in illicit monetary actions. For instance, the U.Ok.’s Nationwide Crime Company, citing the Proceeds of Crime Act, seized roughly 255 million yuan [over $36 million U.S. dollars] price of belongings and properties from Chinese language businessman Su Binghai, who was linked to an enormous cash laundering scandal in Singapore. The article additionally mentions the U.S. Division of Justice seizure of almost $15 billion in Bitcoin from Chen Zhi, who was charged with operating rip-off compounds in Cambodia, just because a few of the individuals he defrauded have been from the U.S. Mu Qi expresses concern that these illicit funds, usually the proceeds of fraud towards Chinese language residents, have gotten overseas belongings moderately than being returned to China and used to compensate Chinese language fraud victims. The article concludes with this considerably sarcastic exhortation: “If we don’t crack down on criminals, another person will. So hurry up and examine! The truth that so many of those ‘large fish’ have been fattened up, solely to be feasted on by Western powers, is completely humiliating to China!”
- “Who Ought to Bear Duty for 200 Mu of Misplaced Cabbage? Farmer Left Destitute After State Media Reposts Rumors,” by Xu Peng, WeChat account Huanxisha Du Fu
November 14, 2025
Commentator Xu Peng criticizes a neighborhood state-media outlet for spreading the unsubstantiated rumor {that a} farmer’s 200-mu (33-acre) cabbage discipline in Chifeng, Interior Mongolia was free for the taking. After the Hongshan Night Information (红山晚报, Hóngshān Wǎnbào) broadcast the declare, an enormous crowd confirmed as much as loot the crops, inflicting the farmer to lose almost one million yuan [$142,000] price of napa cabbage. Afterward, the native media outlet deleted the video, however didn’t provide an apology or monetary compensation. Xu writes that whereas it was the unique rumor-monger who lit the match, it was state media’s absence of fact-checking that fueled the hearth and induced issues to get uncontrolled: “The entire scene is a microcosm of the present chaotic media setting. With fewer journalists doing on-site reporting or verifying information, their work has devolved into scrolling by way of footage, recycling fashionable content material, and modifying video clips. They’re all chasing clicks and dealing at pace, and have forgotten that crucial factor is the reality.”
- “Eight Arrested in Lujie Meals Scandal; Larvae Present in Shrimp Got here From ‘Abroad,’” by Zhang Yunsu, WeChat account Incorrect
November 15, 2025
An article a few main meals security scandal involving Shanghai Lujie, a catering firm accused of bid-rigging in 86 faculty cafeteria contracts and making an attempt to cowl up larvae discovered in class meals containing shrimp by claiming they have been “shrimp intestines” or “silt.” Whereas eight firm executives have been arrested, the official report blamed the presence of larvae on “abroad manufacturing processes” moderately than on any native failures in meals hygiene. Zhang is skeptical of this clarification and of the truth that no native academic officers have been punished; he warns that there’ll seemingly be repeated school-meal high quality issues except monopoly, corruption, and bid-rigging inside the system are eradicated.
- “How Did The Paper Grow to be an ‘Unreliable’ Media Outlet?” WeChat account He Dudu
November 15, 2025
One other article in regards to the flap over Tencent censoring an investigative report by The Paper, a revered Shanghai media outlet. The creator defends The Paper’s reporting and argues that Tencent overstepped by infringing upon the general public’s proper to know. The creator additionally expresses shock at overwhelming on-line hostility towards The Paper, and laments the decline of conventional media and the ascent of highly effective on-line platforms that prioritize visitors over journalistic integrity.
- “I Went Again to My Rural Hometown, however I Hasten to Make clear: It’s Not Some ‘Massive-Scale Return to Stagnate within the Countryside,’” WeChat account 人格志 (Rén Gé Zhì)
November 16, 2025
WeChat blogger Ren Ge Zhi, who focuses on present occasions and the Chinese language inventory market, writes about returning to his rural hometown to assist his kinfolk plant the wheat crop. This occurred the identical week that an agricultural policy-maker, elevating the alarm about migrant staff deserting city areas attributable to a scarcity of labor, said it was important to “forestall a large-scale inflow of returnees from stagnating within the countryside.” This assertion echoes authorities warnings made earlier than Chinese language New 12 months in 2022 towards “malicious homecomings.” See additionally CDT protection of such phrases as “malicious mourning” and “malicious commenting.”
The creator notes that Chinese language social media was crammed with sarcastic responses to this assertion and says that whereas it was good that the federal government acknowledged the impression of the financial downturn on migrant staff, advocating that they be “prevented” from returning to their households and hometowns is each chilly and condescending. As a substitute of “rubbing salt of their wounds,” he writes, a greater solution to deal with the issue of unemployed migrant staff could be to supply them materials, or at the least ethical, help. The piece concludes with a sardonic clarification that the creator’s go to was not some “large-scale return,” nor does he intend to “stagnate within the countryside.”
Half Two will comply with quickly.
