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Censorship in the People's Republic of China refers to the government of the People's Republic of China's policy of controlling the publishing, dissemination, and viewing of certain information. The special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau have their own legal systems and Taiwan (the Republic of China) is not controlled by the PRC government, so censorship does not apply in these regions.

Censored content often includes information that relates to Falun Gong, Tibetan independence, Taiwan independence, police brutality, anarchism, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, freedom of speech, democracy, pornography, certain news sources, certain religious content, and many websites.

Censored media include essentially all capable of reaching a wide audience including television, print media, radio, film, text messaging, video games, and the Internet.

Reporters Without Borders ranks China's press situation as "Very serious", the worst ranking on their five-point scale.^[1] China's Internet censorship policy is labeled as "Pervasive" by the OpenNet Initiative's global Internet filtering map, also the worst ranking used.^[2]

Contents 1 Subject matter and agenda 1.1 Political 1.2 Cultural 1.3 Moral 1.4 Religious 1.5 Economical 2 Internet 3 Education 4 Film 5 Short Message Service 6 Video games 7 Self-censorship 8 See also 9 References

Censorship in the PRC encompasses a wide range of subject matter. The agendas behind such censorship are varied; some are stated outright by the Chinese government itself and some are surmised by observers inside and out of the country.

Censorship in China is largely seen as a measure to maintain the stability of the country and the control of the Chinese Communist Party. Censorship helps prevent unapproved reformist, separatist, counter-revolutionary, or religious proponents, peaceful or otherwise, from organizing themselves and spreading their ideals. Additionally, censorship prevents Chinese citizens from discovering or learning more about past and current failures of the CCP that could create or inflame anti-government sentiment. Measures such as the banning of the United States federal courts website (uscourts.gov) may also be intended to prevent citizens from learning about foreign systems of governance and demanding similar systems.^[3]

The PRC has historically sought to use censorship to mold or protect the country's culture. During the Cultural Revolution, foreign literature and art forms, religious works and symbols, and even artifacts of ancient Chinese culture were deemed "reactionary" and became targets for destruction by roving bands of Red Guard.

Although much greater cultural freedom exists in China today, continuing crackdowns on pornography and the 2006 banning of foreign cartoons from Chinese prime time TV^[4] could be seen as a continuation of cultural-minded censorship.

Some censorship in China has been justified as upholding proper morals. This includes limitations on pornography^[5] and violence in films.^[6]

Recently, China has begun using censorship to protect religious sensibilities.

In 2007, anticipating the coming "Year of the Pig" in the Chinese calendar, depictions of pigs were banned from CCTV "to avoid conflicts with ethnic minorities".^[7] This is believed to refer to China's population of 20 million Muslims (to whom pigs are considered "unclean").

In recent years, censorship in China has been accused of being a measure not only for political protectionism but also for economic protectionism.

For instance, while the majority of foreign films are banned from screening in China, such films can easily be acquired in pirated formats by Chinese citizens. This, in effect, allows Chinese to view such films while keeping their money within the domestic economy.

Additionally, while the rise of Wikipedia has marginalized most online encyclopedias, the banning of Wikipedia in China has created a climate in which for-profit services such as Baidu Baike can operate.

Main article: Internet censorship in the People's Republic of China

China's Internet censorship is regarded by many as the most pervasive and sophisticated in the world. According to a Harvard study, at least 18,000 websites are blocked from within the country.^[3] Certain search engine terms are blocked as well, and 52 cyber dissidents are reportedly imprisoned in China for their online communications.^[8]

Educational institutions within China have been accused of whitewashing PRC history by downplaying or avoiding mention of controversial historical events such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution.

In 2005, customs officials in China seized a shipment of textbooks intended for a Japanese school in the country because maps in the books depicted mainland China and Taiwan using different colors.^[9]

In a January 2006 issue of Freezing Point, a weekly supplement to the China Youth Daily, Zhongshan University professor Yuan Weishi published an article entitled "Modernization and History Textbooks" in which he criticized several middle school textbooks used in mainland China.^[10][11] In particular, he felt that depictions in the books of the Second Opium War avoided mention of Chinese diplomatic failures leading up to the war and that depictions of the Boxer Rebellion glossed over atrocities committed by the Boxer rebels. As a result of Yuan's article, Freezing Point was temporarily shut down and its editors were fired.^[12][13]

A new standard world history textbook introduced in Shanghai high schools in 2006 supposedly omits several wars and mentions Mao Zedong only once.^[13]

In the FRONTLINE documentary "The Tank Man", four student from Peking University are seemingly unable to identify the context of the infamous Tank Man photo from the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 which were sparked by Peking University students.^[14] The segment implies that the subject is not addressed in Chinese schools.

Zhang Ming, the dean of political sciences at Renmin University of China, was fired on March 16 of 2007 after complaining about academic freedom in China among other issues.^[15]

Chinese censors reportedly clear only twenty foreign films a year for screening within the country.^[6][16] Those films that are allowed to play in Chinese cinemas may be re-edited to removed controversial material. Examples include the deletion of scenes showing hanging laundry in Shanghai during Mission: Impossible III and the removal of a reference to the Cold War in Casino Royale.^[17]

All audio visual works dealing with "serious topics" such as the Cultural Revolution must be registered before distribution on the mainland.^[18] Films by PRC nationals cannot be submitted to foreign film festivals without government approval.^[19]

According to Reporters without Borders, China has over 2,800 Short Message Service (text messaging) surveillance centers. During the SARS outbreak of May 2003, a dozen Chinese were reportedly arrested for sending text messages about SARS.^[20]

In 2004, the Ministry of Culture set up a committee to screen imported online video games before they entered the Chinese market. It was stated that games with any of the following violations would be banned from importation:^[21]

• Violating basic principles of the Constitution
• Threatening national unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity
• Divulging state secrets
• Threatening state security
• Damaging the nation's glory
• Disturbing social order
• Infringing on others' legitimate rights

The State General Administration of Press and Publication and anti-porn and illegal publication offices have also played a role in screening games.^[22]

Examples of banned games have included:

• Hearts of Iron (for "distorting history and damaging China's sovereignty and territorial integrity")^[23]
• I.G.I.-2: Covert Strike (for "intentionally blackening China and the Chinese army's image")^[24]
• Command & Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour (for "smearing the image of China and the Chinese army")^[23]

As with films, piracy makes acquiring banned video games in China still possible.

Hong Kong media, though not subject to the mainland's censorship laws, have been accused of practicing self-censorship so as to be allowed into mainland media markets and to be granted fuller journalistic access to the mainland.^[25]

International corporations such as Yahoo!, Microsoft, and Google willingly censor their content for Chinese markets in order to be allowed to do business in the country.^[14]

• Government control of the media in the People's Republic of China
• Propaganda in the People's Republic of China
• Human rights in the People's Republic of China