China Censors 'Beijing' On Social Media As Protestors Fill Internet With Anti-Xi-Jinping Content

China censored the word “Beijing” on social media after photos and videos of a rare public protest against President Xi Jinping surfaced online.

What Happened: Days ahead of the crucial National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, where Xi is expected to win an unprecedented third term as the leader of the CCP, two banners blasting the president were unfurled in northwestern Beijing, reported Bloomberg.

The banners criticized Xi and his strict zero-Covid policy of lockdowns and mass testing in handwritten slogans. The banners were soon taken down by the authorities.

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“We want food, not PCR tests. We want freedom, not lockdowns and controls. We want respect, not lies,” one banner said.

The report noted that the banners called for elections instead of having a “lingxiu,” a title meaning “leader” that was earlier reserved for Mao Zedong and has recently been associated with Xi.

微博上“四通桥”是敏感词，只有两条去年的路况信息。“勇士”是敏感词，只能搜到官微报道金州勇士赛讯（还好没成为“金州**”）。“彭载舟”是敏感词，什么内容都没有。很快“载舟”也要成为敏感词。 pic.twitter.com/BnxHXTXAVW

— 方舟子 (@fangshimin) October 13, 2022

Within a day, China scrubbed most references to the event from its heavily censored internet, along with banning the terms “Sitong Bridge,” “brave man,” “bridge,” and “courage.”

China’s Twitter-like social app Weibo even banned the term “Beijing,” restricting the search results to posts from verified accounts.

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