MCLC: 6/4-related words

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: 6/4-related words
***********************************************************

Source: China Real Time blog, WSJ (6/4/14):
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2014/06/04/64-tiananmen-related-words-ch
ina-is-blocking-today/

64 Tiananmen-Related Words China Is Blocking Online Today
By Jason Q. Ng

As journalists and citizens around the world offer their retrospectives on
the 25thanniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, the official
response from Chinese authorities is quiet as usual. Unsurprisingly, state
media don’t highlight the significance of today’s date; the front page of
the Communist Party newspaper People’s Daily leads with Xi Jinping ’s
attendance of an engineering conference.

This year authorities have taken more overt actions to ensure things would
remain quiet—especially online. GreatFire.org reported
<https://en.greatfire.org/blog/2014/jun/google-disrupted-prior-tiananmen-an
niversary-mirror-sites-enable-uncensored-access> that numerous Google
services were disrupted in advance of the anniversary, a fairly
extraordinary step because many Internet users in China use Google
services. But netizens have almost come to expect these sorts of
unexpected disruptions surrounding the June 4 anniversary—so called
“Internet maintenance day”
<http://www.techinasia.com/june-4-china-unofficial-orwellian-internet-maint
enance-day/>—so that these obstructions are now routine.

Also routine is the enhancement of the blocking of search keywords on
Weibo around the event. For example, as recently as May 11, the Chinese
words for “tank” and “64” (short for June 4) were unblocked, but based on
tests today, these and many other June 4-related keywords have now been
restricted from searching.

If past history is any indicator, the most sweeping of these search blocks
will likely be rescinded once this sensitive period has passed without
incident. But for now, attempting to look up any information using a
keyword that happens to include, for instance, the numbers 六 (6) and 四 (4)
will return zero results on Weibo.

Below are 64 June 4-related keywords that were found to be censored on
Weibo today, along with brief translations. The same set of keywords was
tested last year by The Citizen Lab, and overall, a roughly similar
percentage of keywords were censored in both cases. Nine new
keywords were added to Weibo’s blacklist this year (highlighted in red
below) while a handful of others were removed and are now searchable,
including 镇压 (to suppress or execute/kill), 6.4, 纪念 (commemorate), 长安街
(Chang’an Avenue, a route leading to Tiananmen Square), six*4, 屠杀大学生
(massacre university students), and 五月35日 and 5月三十五 (May 35, code for
June 
4, though五月三十五 remained blocked).

* JUNE 4
* 天安门: Tiananmen (simplified characters)
* 坦克: tank
* liu四: phonetic for 6-4
* 六四: 6-4
* 学潮: campus upheaval
* ⅥⅣ: Roman numerals for 6-4
* IIXVIIIIX: Roman numbers for 1-9-8-9
* Jun 4th
* 陆肆: an alternative way to write 6-4
* 天安門: Tiananmen (traditional characters)
* 五月三十五: May 35, aka June 4
* 瓶反鹿死: a homophone for ‘redress June 4th’
* six四: 6-4
* six four
* TAM: abbreviation for Tiananmen
* 王维林: Wang Weilin, alleged “tank man”
* 春夏之交: Between spring and summer
* 八九: 89
* 河殇: River elegy
* 暴乱: rebellion
* 维多利亚公园: Victoria Park  (site of vigil in Hong Kong)
* six quatre: 6-4
* Tank Man
* VIIIIXVI: Roman numerals for 8-9-6
* VIIV: 6-4
* 工自联: Capital/Beijing Autonomous Workers Federation
* 广场: Square (or plaza)
* 戒严: Martial law
* 缅怀: nostalgia—possible reference to Tiananmen Mothers
<http://www.tiananmenmother.org/>
* 平反: Redress; vindicate
* 维园: Victoria Park
* 学生领袖: Student leaders
* 学运: Student movement
* 高自联: Beijing Autonomous University Students Union
* liusi: Six four
* 自由花: Flower of Freedom
* 8964
* 历史的伤口: The wound in history
* 六si: Six four
* 六four: Six four
* 六肆: June 4
* 八平方: 8 squared (that is, 64)
* 天an门: Tiananmen
* 国殇: National war dead
* 侏儒之歌: Song  <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KR2G5E_aqs>used in
Tiananmen commemorations
* 61后三天: three days after June 1
* 民主女神: Goddess of Democracy
* 8qb4: 8964
* 三月九十六号: March 96th (June 4)
* 毋忘阝坴镸聿: Do not forget June 4
* 2的6次方: 2 to the power of 6 (that is, 64)
* 小平下令镇压: Deng Xiaoping orders martial law
* 李鹏: Li Peng
* lipeng: Li Peng
* 六4: 6-4
* Blood is on the square
* 六亖: June 4 coded keyword
* 黄雀行动: Operation Yellowbird, the Hong Kong movement to help activists
leave the mainland
* six4: June 4
* 64事件: June 4 Incident
* 烛光: candle-lit (vigil)
* 陆四: June 4 coded keyword
* 89事件: 1989 event

Update: Based on reader feedback, some of translations have been updated
with more accurate translations.

Jason Q. Ng is a research fellow at the University of Toronto’s The
Citizen Lab and author of “Blocked on Weibo: What Gets Suppressed on
China’s Version of Twitter (And Why).” Follow him on Twitter at jasonqng
<https://twitter.com/jasonqng>