As 2025 attracts to an in depth, CDT editors are compiling a collection of probably the most notable content material (Chinese language) from throughout the Chinese language web over the previous 12 months. Subjects embrace this 12 months’s most excellent quotes, studies, podcasts and movies, delicate phrases, censored articles and essays, “Individuals of the Yr,” and CDT’s “2025 Editors’ Picks.”
That is Half Two of CDT’s compilation of probably the most notable censored articles and essays from 2025, chosen by CDT Chinese language editors from among the many 425 new items of content material added this 12 months to our public, searchable, Chinese language-language “404 Deleted Content material Archive.” (Half One covers content material added from January to July; Half Two, content material from August to December.) Censored by varied Chinese language web sites and platforms, these articles and essays characterize solely a fraction of the content material that disappears every day from the Chinese language web, however they provide invaluable perception into on-line public discourse in China, and matters that the Chinese language authorities, Chinese language Communist Get together, and censors deem “too delicate” to not suppress.
In an introductory essay, translated in full in Half One, our editors highlighted a number of the key censorship tendencies they noticed in 2025. An excerpt from the essay:
Just some years in the past, Chinese language netizens may need been in a position to discern which matters, positions, or viewpoints had been almost certainly to cross purple traces, and to fine-tune their on-line methods accordingly with the intention to stroll the “tightrope” of censorship. In the present day, nevertheless, this amassed knowledge has turn out to be a lot much less efficient, as a result of censorship is not focused solely at “dissenting voices,” however has broadened to incorporate any and all content material that may result in uncontrolled, or uncontrollable, on-line discourse.
[…Online censorship] has advanced right into a proactive, content-blocking juggernaut able to anticipating what kind of knowledge may “spin uncontrolled.” Below such a mechanism, any type of expression could also be seen as a possible risk, as a result of even evaluation and clarification poses an inherent danger, and heated on-line dialogue is perceived as a lack of management. Thus does the censorship equipment mildew a web based public-opinion atmosphere that seems spontaneous, however is in truth extremely selective and intensely filtered.
[…] When the censorship equipment is ready to function indiscriminately, […] the concomitant self-censorship and enforced silence shortly drain what little on-line area and vitality stays, thus sucking the life out of societal discourse. [Chinese]
Under is a month-by-month abstract of the primary archived matters this 12 months, together with examples of significantly notable or influential censored essays and articles.
August 2025
- A college bullying incident in Jiangyou, Sichuan province sparked mass protests in help of a bullied schoolgirl and her household, and anger at native officers’ dismissive remedy of the household.
- A Mercedes-driving lady in Fangchenggang, Guangxi province, flashed borrowed official credentials to attempt to intimidate one other driver into yielding to her in site visitors, birthing the meme “Credential-Flashing Sister” and galvanizing a wider societal debate about official privilege.
- Yang Lanlan, a rich younger Chinese language lady residing in Sydney, was charged with 4 prison offenses for crashing her customized Rolls-Royce Cullinan SUV into one other car in July, severely injuring the opposite driver. There was intense hypothesis on Chinese language social media about Yang’s wealth and doable household connections.
- Hong Kong author and commentator Leung Man-tao’s podcast “Eight and a Half Minutes” (八分半, Bā fēn bàn) was yanked from Chinese language streaming platforms after he mentioned media mogul Jimmy Lai, presently dealing with nationwide safety expenses in Hong Kong. (Leung’s podcast stays obtainable on Apple Podcasts.)
“In Current Years, There’s Been an Unmistakable Drive Dragging Almost Everybody Down,” by Lao Dongyan, from Lao Dongyan’s Weibo account
August 19, 2025
In August, a brief essay by Tsinghua College regulation professor Lao Dongyan about an unnamed however “unmistakable power dragging almost everybody down” attracted intense on-line curiosity earlier than it was deleted from her Weibo account. Lao’s writings and speeches have been a frequent goal for censorship prior to now, and he or she has been an outspoken critic of the nationwide web ID system and the indiscriminate use of facial recognition know-how. Her essay, which appeared to resonate with many Chinese language netizens, touched on themes of anomie and “political despair” (政治性抑郁, zhèngzhìxìng yìyù), the latter a subject that rose to reputation in 2022. A portion of Lao’s essay is translated under:
Lately, there’s been an unmistakable societal power relentlessly dragging almost everybody down, and this power has grown more and more highly effective. Many tremendous and delightful issues have been ruthlessly shattered and destroyed. Brazen shows of vulgarity and crudeness at the moment are thought-about “genuine” types of expression, they usually proceed to achieve momentum, permeating and polluting each nook of the web. On this atmosphere, those that try and cling to their rules and keep away from being dragged down into the muck are vilified.
As such, it’s regular for an individual of sound motive and the capability for empathy to be overwhelmed by a way of powerlessness, and the sentiments of misery and anxiousness that brings. Many individuals I do know, myself included, have skilled such feelings to various levels.
[…] When confronted by that power continuously threatening to tug us down, we should intentionally exert a countervailing power, lest we be overcome by that downward momentum. It’s like being caught within the rapids: if we merely stand there, in the end we will probably be swept away. Due to this fact, we should first be taught to face agency amid the torrent, preserve a steady core, and from there, bear in mind to hunt out like-minded individuals with whom we will work to stem the tide, to construct a dam of types, not by brute power, however by using strategic knowledge. Persistence is essential—the regular drip of water that may put on via stone—however technique and techniques matter, too. Don’t give in to anger, or decrease your self to the extent of your opponents, or succumb to defeatism if at first you don’t succeed. In any case, what issues to us isn’t the result of a single battle, however successful all the battle. [Chinese]
September 2025
- Amid a Our on-line world Administration of China (CAC) marketing campaign to sort out “malicious negativity” on-line, influencer Hu Chenfeng was hit with a multi-platform ban. Hu amassed an enormous on-line following by specializing in socio-economic matters akin to the price of residing, poverty amongst pensioners, one of the best cities for younger city professionals, and extra. His controversial “Apple vs. Android idea” equates Apple with high quality, modernity, and cosmopolitanism, and Android with inferior high quality, backwardness, and insularity.
- Schooling guru Zhang Xuefeng was additionally banned from plenty of platforms, though his ban turned out to be momentary. Zhang grew to become massively in style for providing sensible entrance examination, school curriculum, and profession recommendation for the plenty, however he additionally generated controversy for allegedly taking advantage of the anxieties of potential school college students and their mother and father.
- There was heavy censorship of content material associated to Nepal’s Gen Z protest motion, which started in response to widespread corruption and an unpopular authorities ban on 26 social media platforms, and resulted in a victory for the protesters: the social-media ban was lifted, Prime Minister Okay.P. Sharma Oli resigned, the Home of Representatives was dissolved, and new elections had been set for March 2026.
- Authorized consultants engaged in sturdy debate over the appropriate to attend prison trials, after citizen journalist Wu Yunpeng was detained for 5 days for allegedly publishing “inaccurate” content material and “impersonating” a member of the family to attend a authorized listening to on the Guancheng District Court docket in Zhengzhou, Henan province. An article from WeChat account Felony Protection World argued that public trials ought to enable any citizen to look at and take notes on the proceedings, and that court-imposed limits on observers violate China’s constitutional precept of open trials.
“TV Station Studies Rice Yields of Ten Thousand Jin Per Mu? This Is in 2025…” by Xiang Dongliang, WeChat account Constructive Opinions
September 25, 2025
An article satirizing a CCTV interview with a farmer in Jilin who claimed that his 50-mu (3.3 hectare) rice area would yield 750,000 jin (over 82,000 kilos)—a ten-fold improve over the insanely inflated rice yields touted by authorities propagandists in the course of the Nice Leap Ahead. Xiang, as a former agricultural reporter, understood that the farmer probably obtained nervous on digicam and misspoke, having meant to say “75,000 jin.” After Chinese language social media customers seen the error, CCTV quietly edited out that portion of the web interview. In Xiang’s opinion, the truth that the error was allowed to air displays an general decline in TV information high quality as a consequence of price range cuts, employees reductions, and the prioritization of propagandistic content material over correct reporting. As for the way forward for TV information, Xiang wrote, “I doubt it will likely be in a position to survive for much longer.
October 2025
- Public outcry over a pyrotechnic show in a fragile ecosystem in Gyantse county, Tibet—designed by artist Cai Guo-Qiang, sponsored by the outside attire model Arc’teryx, and permitted by native authorities—resulted within the sacking of Gyantse county’s Communist Get together secretary, public safety chief, and two senior members of metropolis and county environmental businesses.
- Information that two extra Japanese scientists had been awarded Nobel Prizes within the pure sciences was met with dismissiveness and defensiveness by Chinese language official media, and amusement amongst Chinese language social media customers, provided that China has lengthy blocked the Nobel’s official web site. “How can a rustic that blocks the Nobel web site hope to win a Nobel Prize?” quipped one Chinese language netizen.
- There was frustration over media silence after a Xiaomi SUV plowed right into a crowd of scholars and fogeys close to an elementary faculty in Shiyan, Hubei province, killing one individual and injuring a minimum of 4. When native outlet Shiyan Night Information sought to absolve itself by pleading on Douban, “Our arms are tied, too,” one commenter countered, “Then what’s the purpose of you?”
- Issues about extreme pandemic controls throughout an outbreak of the mosquito-borne Chikungunya virus in Guangdong province pressured officers to rescind an order requiring residents to give up their keys in order that sanitation staff might enter properties to fumigate and perform abatement efforts. China’s three years of COVID-related lockdowns and privateness violations have made residents extraordinarily cautious of potential “pandemic-prevention overreach” by native officers.
- Henan farmers suffered devastating losses as a consequence of torrential autumn rains that precipitated their corn crops to turn out to be moldy. Many small-scale farmers additionally complained about being turned away from government-subsidized “grain-drying stations.”
- Chengdu’s beloved unbiased Youxing Bookstore acquired an outpouring of on-line tributes after founder Zhang Feng introduced it could shut quickly as a consequence of official strain. Thankfully the bookstore acquired a reprieve and can stay open and proceed to host its in style occasions and discussions.
“How Many Individuals Are on China’s Authorities Payroll? How Many Is Cheap, and How Many Is Too Many?” WeChat account Da He Rises (大何崛起, Dà Hé Juéqǐ)
October 15, 2025
Drawing closely from analysis by three Fudan College students (Zhang Jun, Ma Xinrong, and Liu Zhikuo) whose work was revealed within the July 2025 challenge of the China Financial Quarterly, this prolonged article examines the info on China’s civil service and authorities worker payroll, and asks whether or not it constitutes a drag on China’s economic system. The writer notes the rise in authorities staff over time and the burden of paying pensions to tens of tens of millions of retired public staff, and estimates that roughly 5 % of China’s inhabitants are technically “on the federal government’s payroll.” The piece concludes with an argument that the federal government doesn’t create wealth however solely distributes it, and that bureaucrats are analogous to a automotive’s air-conditioning or brakes, quite than its engine—essential elements, however not what makes the car run.
“Home Electrical Car Crashes Into Shiyan’s Chongqing Highway Elementary Faculty, Many College students and Dad and mom Killed or Injured,” by Li Guifang, WeChat account Aquarius Period
October 25, 2025
On October 22, a automotive plowed into a big crowd of scholars and fogeys close to an elementary faculty within the metropolis of Shiyan, Hubei province, leading to a minimum of one fatality, 4 severe accidents, and quite a few different minor accidents. Three days of silence from media shops and native police and authorities left many Chinese language netizens pissed off and offended. One effort to interrupt the silence got here from freelance journalism collective Aquarius Period, which revealed this in depth (now deleted) report that includes eyewitness accounts, images, and a diagram of the scene of the collision. One of many mother and father interviewed describes seeing six or seven youngsters mendacity on the bottom, safety guards performing CPR on unresponsive victims, and a minimum of 9 ambulances and lots of site visitors police autos on the scene. The article additionally paperwork on-line and offline censorship following the collision: police shooing individuals away from the scene of the crash; households of hospitalized victims being assigned native cadres as “minders” and having their cellphones confiscated (a sample of making certain or implementing kin’ “emotional stability” typically seen in official dealing with of “sudden incidents”); muting of parent-teacher group chats; search censorship for “Shiyan” and different associated phrases on a minimum of 4 social media platforms; and content material concerning the incident being deleted from WeChat, Douyin, QQ, and RedNote. One individual reported that, after posting a video of the crash on Douyin, they acquired a warning name from native police.
November 2025
“If I Meet Your Gaze, I Lose: The Qing Dynasty’s ‘Scowling Diplomacy,’” by Xiaoyuan Benyuan, WeChat account Xiao Yuan Reads Ming Dynasty Historical past
November 20, 2025
An historic evaluation of the Qing Dynasty’s peculiar strategy to international coverage, dubbed “scowling diplomacy,” which prioritized symbolic acts of disdain over substantive negotiation. The writer writes that Qing officers typically averted eye contact, saved their arms hidden, and maintained solemn expressions, believing that sustaining a superior posture would display the Celestial Empire’s dignity and superiority. This led the Qing to make profound strategic blunders, such because the missed alternative to know British energy in the course of the 1793 Macartney Mission, the primary British diplomatic mission to China. By remaining blind to world energy shifts, the Qing Court docket sowed the seeds of its later navy and political failures.
“Evaluating the Hong Kong Hearth to the 2010 Shanghai Jiaozhou Highway Hearth: Extreme Subcontracting, Misappropriation of Funds, Compensation Schemes, and Housing Value Aftereffects,” by Uncle Da, WeChat account Uncle Da’s Concept of Evolution
November 28, 2025
WeChat blogger Uncle Da discusses a number of the parallels between the Hong Kong Wang Fuk fireplace and the 2010 Shanghai Jiaozhou Highway fireplace, claiming that each had been preventable high-rise disasters tormented by poor venture administration and using outdated, flammable development supplies. The writer writes that the Shanghai fireplace concerned in depth subcontracting that pushed danger onto low-level staff, whereas the Hong Kong fireplace concerned alleged misappropriation of renovation funds. The piece concludes by noting that even 15 years later, many victims of the Shanghai fireplace are nonetheless awaiting monetary compensation.
December 2025
