CDT presents a month-to-month sequence 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 akin 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 of “delicate” over time by the Get together-state, our on-line world authorities, and platform censors. Our totally searchable Chinese language-language “404 Deleted Content material Archive,” presently comprises 2,397 deleted articles, essays, and different items of content material. The entry for every deleted merchandise contains the writer/social media account title, the unique publishing platform, the subject material, the date of deletion, and extra info.
Beneath is Half Two of CDT’s abstract of deleted content material from January 2026. (Half One included 21 deleted articles; Half Two, 19 articles; and Half Three, 14 articles.) Between January 1-31, CDT Chinese language added 55 new articles, principally from WeChat, to the archive. (One of many articles was voluntarily deleted by the account proprietor on the request of the one who contributed the article, and thus is just not included on this abstract.) Matters focused for deletion in January included:
• Maduro and Venezuela: Chinese language reactions to the U.S. seize of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his spouse by U.S. forces; Chinese language and worldwide media protection of Venezuela; and what latest occasions could imply for Sino-Venezuelan relations.
• Hebei’s rural heating disaster: Many aged and rural residents in Hebei, braving subzero temperatures, had been unable afford to pay for heating this winter attributable to a mix of hovering vitality costs, plummeting natural-gas subsidies, and strict bans on the burning of “free coal” following that area’s “coal-to-gas” conversion that launched in 2017. (This was one of the censored on-line subjects in January: 16 of CDT’s 55 archived articles final month involved Hebei’s vitality woes.)
• Sharp birthrate decline: China’s annual birthrate fell under eight million in 2025, a report low, fueling on-line dialogue about demographics, pro-natalist authorities insurance policies, and the “interval police.”
• Jia Guolong and Luo Yonghao spat: An acrimonious public dispute between influencer Luo Yonghao and Xibei restaurant chain founder Jia Guolong culminated in each of their Weibo accounts being suspended.
• Gender double requirements and misogyny: There have been a number of posts on sexism and double requirements in society, and public outcry over a controversial resolution to not prosecute a rape case in Heshun county, Shanxi province, as a result of the person concerned was “motivated by the will to start out a household” with a mentally sick girl.
• On-line influencer “Lao A”: After rising to fame for coining the phrase “kill line” to explain poverty and homelessness within the U.S., Lao A continued to generate controversy over his misogynistic statements about Chinese language girls who dwell or research overseas.
• Complaints about bare artwork: Stories of complaints a couple of nude statue of Yang Guifei rising from her tub resulted in a flood of memes and outrageous style options about easy methods to dress her nudity.
• The way forward for Iran: A blogger contemplated the opportunity of regime change in Iran as diplomatic strain mounts.
• Generational variations: An article requested which era had it worse—the “Submit-80s,” “Submit-90s,” or “Submit-00s”?
(Notice that the dates within the abstract under seek advice from when an article was printed on the CDT web site, not when it was deleted from Chinese language social-media platforms.)
22. “The Revolution’s Ultimate Chapter Approaches: Why Iran Has No Method Out,” by Vali Nasr, excerpted by WeChat account 稻草和飞花 (Dàocǎo hé fēihuā, “Rice straw and drifting petals”)
January 12
A Chinese language translation of “Why This Time is Totally different for Iran,” with a hyperlink to the unique article printed on January 9 at Venture Syndicate by Vali Nasr, professor of Center East Research and Worldwide Affairs at Johns Hopkins College’s Faculty of Superior Worldwide Research. Nasr argues {that a} mixture of inner and exterior pressures will make it difficult for Iran to keep away from direct battle with the U.S. and Israel whereas additionally making an attempt to handle a extreme financial downturn and home calls for for reform.
23. “Why Does No One Converse Fact to Energy?” by Huang Zhijie, WeChat account Youyou Luming
January 12
The writer explains why he deleted a reader-contributed article in regards to the judicial-staffing quota system on the request of the contributor, a choose who balked beneath the strain of talking out to such a big viewers, and says that he completely understands the contributor’s resolution. Utilizing that episode as a springboard, Huang poses the query: Why don’t folks inside establishments converse fact to energy? As a result of it’s typically a thankless activity that comes with appreciable private {and professional} danger, he writes, so “savvy” people inside a corporation study to be imprecise, silent, and conformist. The article then traces this dynamic via historical past, from Socrates to Ming Dynasty “trustworthy official” Hai Rui to the suppression of the Hundred Flowers Motion. He additionally contrasts the truth-telling, plain-speaking Mohists with the rhetorically polished Confucians, and argues that Chinese language civilization made a tragic alternative when it elevated the latter. The article closes with the argument that defending free speech via institutional and constitutional ensures (reasonably than counting on particular person ethical braveness) is what distinguishes a really fashionable society from one trapped within the historical cycle of rewarding flattery and punishing honesty.
24. “An Open Letter to the Supreme Court docket, Supreme Procuratorate, and Ministry of Public Safety: Precisely Who Is Fueling ‘Societal Antagonism?’” by Dai Man, from WeChat account But One other Deep-Sea Fishing Expedition
January 12
An open letter by Dai Man, the spouse of Wu Shaowei, a Beijing businessman who ran a coaching firm serving to college students cross a nationwide security engineering examination and was sentenced to 12 years for fraud, following a 2023 cross-provincial arrest by police in Shanghai’s Baoshan district. Dai Man argues that the case is a textbook instance of “deep-sea fishing,” a extensively criticized technique of “for-profit policing” practiced throughout provincial borders. Alleging severe procedural violations, Dai challenges the authorities’ declare that such prosecutions serve “social stability,” and argues that manufacturing unjust convictions is exactly what turns law-abiding residents into adversaries of the state. The letter closes with a direct enchantment to China’s Supreme Court docket, Supreme Folks’s Procuratorate, and Ministry of Public Safety to revisit the case, and a vow that Dai will pursue each authorized avenue obtainable, no matter private danger. (This WeChat account has printed quite a few articles and letters—lots of which have been censored—from the households of the Hengwan defendants, alleging comparable procedural violations.)
25. “The Spring-Pageant Gala Performer Pushed to Lunacy by the Have to ‘Educate’ Her Viewers,” by Buck-toothed Zhao, WeChat account Fatty Zhao, Scholar of Track Dynasty Historical past
January 12
This text by Buck-toothed Zhao, the web alias of a historian who usually applies a historic strategy to writing about present occasions, skewers an actress identified for enjoying rural girls in CCTV Spring Pageant Gala comedic sketches for her condescending reply throughout a latest livestream, after a viewer requested her the place an outdated farmer like him may discover work. Apparently motivated by the necessity to “educate” her viewers in the identical manner that the annual televised Gala has been education viewers for years, she proceeded to lecture the person that he ought to remain in his village and “develop your corn or beans or no matter, since you may earn 100,000 to 200,000 per yr, greater than you’d make working within the metropolis.” She went on: “In addition to, it’s not like anybody’s poor anymore. When you’re poor, it simply means you’re lazy.” Zhao disputes these wildly optimistic revenue projections, and means that the actress must spend a yr in his mountainous Sichuan hometown making an attempt to plant and harvest rice and candy potatoes with out the help of oxen or mechanized instruments, after which see if she thinks laborious work alone is sufficient to make a farmer wealthy. Zhao goes on to say that enjoying a farmer in a number of skits doesn’t make an actor a farmer, a lot much less an professional on complicated points akin to rural poverty and unemployment, and that such performers could be higher off if they only shut up.
26. “Stunning Bureaucratic Malfeasance by Sure Authorities Departments in Internal Mongolia,” by Citizen Yu Ping, WeChat account 鱼眼观察 (Yúyǎn guānchá, “A fish-eye view”)
January 12
This text a couple of difficult case of wage arrears in Ulanqab, Internal Mongolia, entails 12 migrant employees who’re nonetheless making an attempt to gather 682,000 yuan (almost $100,000 U.S.) in wages for exterior wall-insulation work they accomplished on a residential building mission again in 2019. Writer Yu Ping describes a cascade of failures: the contractors illegally paid the employees in industrial paper (short-term promissory notes) from Chinese language property developer Evergrande reasonably than in money, that paper turned nugatory when Evergrande collapsed, the contractors then blamed one another, and a state-owned enterprise that took over the mission after Evergrande’s implosion refused to simply accept any duty for the wage arrears, regardless of having made verbal guarantees to assist. Native authorities departments in Ulanqab initially assured the employees their claims could be resolved, convened mediation classes, and obtained written commitments from the businesses concerned, however none of these commitments had been honored, and the departments subsequently reverted to stalling, buck-passing, and procedural runarounds. The employees are nonetheless ready to be paid, even if final July, Internal Mongolia turned the primary locality in China to ensure the fee of wages to migrant employees.
27. “Good Information, Retirees Can Get Prenatal Checkups Reimbursed! Accumulating Pension and Maternity Advantages Concurrently Is No Longer Only a Dream,” by Xu Peng, WeChat account Historical past Rhymes
January 13
This brief, semi-satirical piece from Xu Peng feedback on a brand new Beijing medical insurance coverage coverage that extends prenatal checkup reimbursements to retired girls: a bunch who’re, by definition, previous the authorized feminine retirement age of fifty and largely post-menopausal. Xu notes that whereas the coverage technically advantages anybody who can turn into pregnant via assisted reproductive expertise (he mentions a 59-year-old girl in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu province, who lately gave delivery), it’s primarily a meaningless coverage that may have a negligible impression on China’s low birthrate. Xu wryly observes that retired folks may really be higher candidates for childbearing than the younger—they’ve extra free time and monetary sources, and usually tend to maintain conventional pro-natalist values, whereas the youthful era faces crushing housing and childcare prices that deter them from beginning households. Extra realistically, Xu acknowledges, the true resolution lies in creating circumstances that assist ease the monetary and different burdens of younger households elevating kids.
28. “It’s a Disgrace That Tsinghua College Deserted Its Unbiased Spirit,” by Xiang Dongliang, WeChat account Fundamental Widespread Sense
January 13
Blogger Xiang Dongliang laments the renaming of a WeChat public account related to a Tsinghua College educational journal: the account as soon as often called “Unbiased Spirit” has been changed with the tasteless institutional title “Tsinghua College Journal of Philosophy and Social Sciences.” Xiang traces the title’s origins to a 1929 memorial inscription written by famend Tsinghua scholar Chen Yinke in tribute to the late Sinologist Wang Guowei. Chen wrote that Wang’s “unbiased spirit and freedom of thought will endure for eternity,” and the phrase turned synonymous with Tsinghua’s mental identification and popularity. Noting that it is just the WeChat account title and never the journal title that has modified, Xiang expresses the hope that regardless that the title “Unbiased Spirit” has been deserted, the spirit itself may endure amongst Tsinghua’s students.
29. “Why It’s Necessary to Keep in mind Nie Weiping and That Period,” by Peng Yuanwen, WeChat account 盘点六条 (Pándiǎn liùtiáo, “Six-point Overview”)
January 15
Investigative journalist Peng Yuanwen commemorates the legacy of legendary Chinese language Go participant Nie Weiping, who died on January 14, 2026 on the age of 73. Peng argues that Nie’s significance extends far past the sport of Go: Nie’s gorgeous victories at China-Japan Tremendous Go tournaments within the mid-Nineteen Eighties not solely made him a nationwide hero and reinvigorated nationwide curiosity within the sport, in addition they bolstered Chinese language nationwide confidence throughout the early years of Reform and Opening. Not like the obituaries that appeared in Chinese language state-media, Peng’s tribute to Nie additionally highlights his open-mindedness, his willingness to study from non-Chinese language specialists, and the important position of Japanese Go Grasp Hideyuki Fujisawa, who started bringing teams of Go specialists to China within the Nineteen Eighties to assist tutor China’s rising expertise. Peng mentions that just about all the Chinese language Go gamers who later shone in worldwide tournaments had been Fujisawa’s proteges. Peng closes his article with an implicit however pointed distinction between that period of openness and humility and the more and more insular and nationalistic tendencies in present-day China: “We must always adapt and undertake that which is most superior and embrace it wholeheartedly; nothing is ‘unsuitable’ for us. We must always study from and respect our opponents reasonably than belittling them. We ought to be free and open-minded, not complacent and boastful. We must always keep on traditions which are worthy, and discard these which are dross.”
30. “Jia Guolong Decides If He’s Going to Crash and Burn, He’ll Take Luo Down With Him,” WeChat account Beast Workplace
January 15
That is the primary of 4 archived articles this month in regards to the escalating social-media spat between celeb entrepreneur and former English trainer Luo Yonghao and Xibei restaurant-chain founder Jia Guolong: the pair’s mutual mudslinging culminated in each of their Weibo accounts being suspended on January 17. The writer recounts Jia’s threats and counterattacks in response to allegations, first made by Luo in September, that Xibei’s meals was overpriced, unpalatable, and relied on pre-prepared substances. As a substitute of ignoring Luo or responding with humor, Jia angrily accused Luo of slander, derided him as an “on-line gangster,” and threatened to sue. This response, adopted by different revelations about Xibei’s culinary shortcuts, triggered a boycott and big income losses that hastened the closure of 102 Xibei shops and the layoff of 4,000 workers. The article frames Jia as a tragic and out-of-touch determine who betrayed a few of his early beliefs and bought sidetracked by his personal overwhelming ambition.
31. “Jia Guolong Doesn’t Deserve Sympathy,” by Nande Jun, WeChat account Nande Jun
January 16
This text argues that the Xibei founder is undeserving of sympathy as a result of, whilst his firm hemorrhages cash and prepares to shut 102 shops, his on-line screeds reveal a person extra involved with vindication than with the livelihoods of his tens of hundreds of workers. The writer posits that Jia fails to grasp the fashionable Chinese language web: in an period when social-media customers reward self-deprecating humor and emotional relatability, Jia’s makes an attempt to occupy the ethical excessive floor and demand formal apologies make him look skinny skinned and out of contact, and each phrase he utters solely deepens the public-relations gap he has dug for himself and his firm.
32. “Luo Yonghao Continues Stoking Anti-Mental Sentiment,” WeChat account 奥派老古 (Ào pài lǎo gǔ, “Outdated Gu, of the Austrian Faculty”)
January 16
Writing in regards to the “Luo Yonghao vs. Jia Guolong pre-prepared meals spat,” the writer of this piece paints Luo as a scientifically illiterate influencer who stirs up anti-intellectual public sentiment and constantly refuses to retract his factual errors. To help this, the writer cites Luo’s previous mispronouncements about broadband pace, and his more moderen confusion in regards to the security and high quality of frozen broccoli used within the Xibei restaurant chain’s meals. Hostility to pre-prepared meals, writes the writer, is rooted in ignorance: even Michelin-starred eating places use sous-vide methods and rely closely on prepackaged substances, which can be utilized in 60-70% of eating places in nations such because the U.S. and Japan. The article affords a deep dive into the economics of cold-chain logistics, liquid nitrogen flash-freezing, industrial kitchen infrastructure, and the significance of sustaining taste consistency and meals security, and concludes that the industrialization of the restaurant business is as traditionally inevitable because the industrialization of textiles. Luo Yonghao isn’t any shopper champion, writes the writer, however a populist purveyor of misinformation that does a disservice to Chinese language customers and companies alike.
33. “Yang Guifei in a Jacket: This Isn’t Simply Morons Making Mischief, It’s a Signal We’ve Regressed,” by Zhang Chuanlin, WeChat account Will Tomorrow Actually Be Higher?
January 16
Responding to information {that a} nude statue of Yang Guifei (a legendary magnificence and favourite consort of Tang Dynasty Emperor Xuanzong) could quickly be clothed after members of the general public complained about her nudity, Zhang Chuanlin argues that the true downside is just not the complaints themselves, however the authorities’ senseless “rectification” of artistic endeavors no matter aesthetics or widespread sense. The article is illustrated with some amusing user-generated memes of classical statues clothed in colourful garb, and a real photograph of a donkey on the Hukou Waterfall Scenic Space in Shanxi sporting a protecting over its non-public elements (a measure undertaken after a member of the general public complained). Such capitulation to excessive conservatism, Zhang warns, creates a chilling impact, pressures artists to self-censor, and makes a mockery of artwork and civilization. True civilization, writes Zhang, lies not in protecting up statues and animals, however in cultivating a society able to understanding magnificence, tolerating range, and respecting creative expression.
Certainly one of many memes suggesting doable “outfits” for the nude Yang Guifei statue in Xi’an, Shaanxi province.
34. “The Blue Sky That Was Represented, and the Freezing Winter That Wasn’t,” by Brother Lu (Louis), WeChat account Brother Lu
January 17
On this, the final of 16 articles in regards to the Hebei heating disaster archived by CDT in January, WeChat blogger Brother Lu argues that whereas the underlying objectives of Hebei’s “coal-to-gas” conversion had been sound, the coverage roll-out was flawed. Rural residents had been enticed with subsidies to change to natural-gas home-heating methods with out being truthfully knowledgeable of the long-term prices, and now face winter heating payments that may exceed 15,000 yuan (almost $2,200 U.S.), an not possible sum for aged residents dwelling on pensions of lower than 200 yuan ($29) a month. Lu criticizes native officers who bolstered their careers with improved “blue-sky day” metrics throughout their tenures, whereas leaving unsustainable monetary burdens that surfaced solely after they’d moved on. “Actually accountable governance shouldn’t drive strange folks to decide on between freezing temperatures and choking smog,” writes Lu, “nor ought to it reflexively place the heaviest burden on probably the most susceptible teams in our society.”
35. “Peak Totalitarianism: A Nation Yoked to One Get together, One Get together Yoked to One Man,” by Shu Sheng, WeChat account Shu Sheng
January 17
This lengthy essay affords a theoretical evaluation of totalitarianism, arguing that its defining construction is a mutually reinforcing “trinity” of a single occasion, a single ideology, and a single chief that creates a system of complete management. Drawing on writers and theorists together with Hannah Arendt, George Orwell, Alexis de Tocqueville, Karl Jaspers, Milan Kundera, and Anna Akhmatova, Shu Sheng traces how totalitarian regimes monopolize thought by elevating ideology to unchallengeable fact, focus energy by making the occasion an instrument of the chief’s will, and atomize people by destroying unbiased social establishments which may function buffers towards state energy. The piece makes use of historic examples from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy as an example how such methods generate character cults and an environment of pervasive concern, decreasing people to instruments of the state and corroding human relationships. Shu concludes that totalitarianism’s deadly flaw is its mechanistic misunderstanding of human society: real civilization and concord come up not from enforced uniformity, however from range, dialogue, and the safety of particular person freedoms.
36. “Jia and Luo, Each Muted: Has it Actually Come To This?” by Track Qingren, WeChat account 剑客写字的地方 (Jiànkè xiězì de dìfang, “The place the Swordsman Writes”)
January 17
That is yet one more censored put up in regards to the fraught public dispute between Jia Guolong, founding father of the favored Chinese language restaurant chain Xibei, and his most vocal critic, web celeb entrepreneur Luo Yonghao. Track Qingren describes how, quickly after Jia threatened authorized motion and demanded a public apology from Luo for allegedly slandering Xibei, each events discovered that their Weibo accounts had been suspended. Track dismisses on-line rumors that the authorities may step in and overtly again Jia Guolong and Xibei, as a result of to take action would gasoline much more public mistrust about meals security, and Xibei isn’t strategically vital sufficient to warrant that form of official intervention. The more than likely final result, writes Track, is that authorities will push either side to de-escalate. He additionally means that whereas Luo could be sensible to cease participating, Xibei would be the actual long-term loser because of the erosion of shopper belief within the model—a reminder that when manufacturers attempt to suppress public opinion, they have a tendency to finish up shedding market share.
37. “Liang Jianzhang Sounded the Alarm About China’s Demographic ‘Tipping Level,’ however Now His Journey Platform Is within the Crosshairs,” WeChat account 认知之外Antevasin (Rènzhī zhīwài Antevasin, “Past Cognition Antevasin”)
January 17
This text profiles Liang Jianzhang (James Liang), former CEO and co-founder of the journey web site Journey.com (previously Ctrip), as a paradoxical determine: one in every of China’s earliest and most persistent voices warning in regards to the demographic disaster, but the chief of a platform large now topic to an antitrust probe by Chinese language authorities. The writer argues that Liang’s demographic warnings, knowledgeable by his Stanford economics coaching, weren’t based mostly on knee-jerk pessimism however on rigorous structural evaluation. Liang accurately recognized the problem now going through China and different nations scuffling with chronically low birthrates: as soon as fertility falls under a crucial threshold, restoration prices rise exponentially. In the meantime, Journey.com’s enterprise mannequin (constructed on platform monopoly rents and algorithmic value discrimination towards loyal customers) makes it a pure goal for regulators in search of to redistribute worth from platforms again to households throughout a interval of demographic contraction. The piece concludes with a pointed irony: Liang may see the distant demographic disaster clearly, however couldn’t escape the antitrust crackdown now engulfing the platform-economy mannequin that made him rich and highly effective.
38. “Birthrate Falls to 7.92 Million in 2025, Down Practically 10 Million From a Decade In the past,” by Yi Luo, WeChat account Yi Luo
January 19
This lengthy article, illustrated with copious charts and graphs, discusses the precipitous decline within the Chinese language birthrate. The writer discusses demographic tendencies beneath a number of totally different “fertility eventualities,” and describes their impression on China’s workforce, society, inhabitants distribution, and extra. The article concludes with a lot of coverage suggestions, together with abolishing limits on the variety of kids folks can have, decreasing the authorized marriage age to 18 for each women and men, bolstering spending on training and money subsidies for households with kids, and customarily selling a socioeconomic atmosphere amenable to childrearing and households. The writer notes that encouraging folks to have kids is the only only long-term consumption stimulus obtainable to the federal government, as a result of whereas infrastructure funding will yield diminishing returns, every new delivery will generate a long time of cascading shopper demand.
39. “Jia Guolong Is Extra Suited To Be a Rural County Get together Secretary Than a Company Boss,” by Hereditary Researcher, WeChat account 小干体 (Xiǎo gān tǐ)
January 19
This sardonic piece takes Xibei restaurant chain founder Jia Guolong to activity for his gleeful response to a Folks’s Each day commentary defending companies towards on-line criticism. The writer notes that Jia, who had beforehand dismissed the significance of public relations in enterprise, all of a sudden modified his tune and did some PR of his personal, crowing in regards to the state-media piece as a vindication. The writer argues that having an official state-media outlet “settle” a public dispute by fiat is just not an indication of a wholesome media atmosphere. The piece skewers Jia’s elementary ignorance of what PR really means, arguing that any consumer-facing enterprise proprietor who doesn’t perceive it’s hopelessly out of contact. The piece concludes by suggesting that with Jia’s mindset, he may need been higher suited as a rural county occasion secretary than as CEO of a nationwide restaurant model.
40. “Statistics Bureau Pronounces Births in 2025 Fell Beneath 8 Million! Can the Birthrate Be Stabilized?” by Demographics Are Future, WeChat account 今岑何夕 (Jīn cén hé xī)
January 20
The writer of this piece argues {that a} widespread false impression conflates stabilizing delivery charges with stabilizing fertility charges. In actual fact, the writer writes, even holding the fertility price fixed at round 0.96, the variety of births will proceed to say no as a result of the inhabitants of ladies of childbearing age is steadily shrinking. Solely by elevating the entire fertility price to the substitute degree of two.14 (increased than the worldwide 2.1 substitute degree, attributable to China’s skewed male-female delivery ratio) can the nation hope to stabilize births over the long run. The writer concludes that sturdy pro-natalist insurance policies are urgently wanted, and that the longer motion is delayed, the upper the eventual coverage value.
Half Three will comply with quickly.
