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[bishopp35]

From the FT (paywall)

Winnie the Pooh has become too politically sensitive to be mentioned on Chinese social media.
Posts including the Chinese name of the fictional bear were censored on Sina Weibo, ChinaTwitter-like platform, over the weekend, while a collection of animated gifs featuring the bear were removed from social messaging app WeChat.
While no official explanation was given, observers suggested the crackdown was related to previous comparisons of President Xi Jinping with the portly bear created by the English author AA Milne that went viral.

The political tightening this time is more severe than in previous congresses, one retired senior party official told the Financial Times, pointing out that a recent party meeting was convened to “ensure a smooth and stable congress” — a measure the official said had not been seen as necessary before previous congresses.

Heavy online censorship has been a feature of the past week, with the letters “RIP” blocked from Weibo following the death of Liu Xiaobo, the Chinese dissident and Nobel Peace Prize winner.

 

[TheCochese]

Oh bother.

 

[Kayhan]

The thinnest skin.

 

[TankRizzo]

Maybe the president has a pic of him fisting a honey pot?

 

[Reverend Funk]

They banned RIP? RIP

 

[IdreamofHIME]

Too many people were being sent to hospital traumatized over his baseball game.

 

[Cyanity]

Isn't this becoming a serious issue in China? The people must be aware that their internet is being heavily censored...right?

 

[ffdgh]

I blame baseball.

 

[Hazmat]

The wonderful thing about censors
Is censors are wonderful things!

 

[TheSkullPrince]

Really, China? This is the type of shit Trump would pull. It'd be like the White censoring orangutans and Cheetos.

 

[cameron]

While no official explanation was given, observers suggested the crackdown was related to previous comparisons of President Xi Jinping with the portly bear created by the English author AA Milne that went viral.

Chinese social media is rich with euphemisms and jokes used to bypass the censors. Comparisons between Mr Xi and Winnie the Pooh first circulated in 2013 during Mr Xi's visit with then US president Barack Obama.

A photo of the taller and thinner Mr Obama walking with Mr Xi was combined with a picture of Winnie the Pooh and his lanky friend Tigger, and the comparison stuck. In 2014, the comparison was extended to Mr Xi's meeting with Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe, who was pictured as Eeyore, the sad donkey, alongside the bear. 

A photo of Mr Xi standing up through the roof of a parade car, next to a picture of Winnie the Pooh in a toy car, was named the ”most censored image of 2015" by political consultancy Global Risk Insights.

This can't seriously be the reason. C'mon.

 

[BocoDragon]

^ Abe as Eeyore is pretty funny too.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

Really, China? This is the type of shit Trump would pull. It'd be like the White censoring orangutans and Cheetos.

Lol what? China censors things all the time. Trump cant even censor his own farts.

 

[Kusagari]

No wonder Trump and Jinping became such fast friends.

 

[TangoAlphaLima]

The thinnest skin.

 

[TheSkullPrince]

Lol what? China censors things all the time. Trump cant even censor his own farts.

Don't they censor things that portray China in a negat....oh ok never mind, lol.

But what I was getting at is that you know Trump would censor if he had the authority to.

 

[chaobreaker]

Obama is a Tigger, huh?

 

[blummer102]

This can't seriously be the reason. C'mon.

It is the reason. Censorship on Chinese social media is pretty real and pretty petty - stuff gets deleted on Weibo at an alarming rate whenever it's related to politics. The comparisons between Xi Jinping and Pooh became a widespread meme a few years ago - honestly I'm surprised it took them this long to start banning mention of the bear.

 

[FZZ]

JMON

 

[BocoDragon]

Obama is a Tigger, huh?

We don't use that word here.

 

[lazygecko]

I guess that image really tiggered them.

 

[mclem]

I can just see the crackdowns now. A government agent, an attractive woman, approaches people online to try to tempt them into sharing memes about Winnie the Pooh, and then BAM! Prison.

Spoiler

The Hunny Trap

 

[KoopaTheCasual]

What a fucking weenie.

 

[shira]

I blame baseball.

Is CROB banned?

 

[GuessMyUserName]

Yeah this isn't a rare thing with China. Like when they banned big yellow ducks because of some Tank Man photoshop on the Tiananman Square anniversary.

 

[KeyBladerXIII]

Oh bother.

I was hoping this would be first post. Good on ya.

 

[super-famicom]

That baseball flash game must have really traumatized them.

 

[Wanda/Wander]

That baseball flash game must have really traumatized them.

 

[Demoskinos]

That baseball flash game must have really traumatized them.

As it did most of GAF.

 

[Mechanized]

This is sad. One of the most pathetic things I've seen.

 

[M.J. Doja]

Why's Obama gotta be Tigger though. That name has always bugged me since I was a kid. I love Winnie the Pooh though... Oh bother.

 

[thoseAREmySHOES]

Oh bother.

 

[Replicant]

 

[Regiruler]

Weibo's the big social media over there, right? My brother said that his and everyone else's accounts from when they went over there on a trip got banned after they left China. On seeing how strict they are with censoring, I'm not surprised.

Also, Winnie the Pooh is affectionate parody at worst, come on.

 

[jellies_two]

Putin is also censoring social media pictures of him in drag.

Basically this is a measure of a despot rating now: Xi, Trump, Putin, Erdogan. Duterte also deploys a social media troll army.

These people are also the people Trump admires the most (himself included).

 

[Blues1990]

Yeah, I don't get it.

 

[Derwind]

I always try to tell people, you just make it easier to poke fun at your expense if you make it obvious you can't take a joke.