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Fascinated particularly by the letter N story, Patrick. Was there a celebration of all things N I wonder when it was reinstated? Nibbles and naughties at night? What was that Frotz Lang film with Petter Lorre? A single letter too was it not? Ah, M, just google checked. Not to be too flip, of course, Patrick. Must be unimaginably horrible that degree of censorship and intolerance of disagreement. Bill > On 7 Mar 2018, at 9:00 pm, Patrick McManus <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > found poem 01-03-2018 > CHINA BANS WORDS > > 1984 > Animal Farm > ascend the throne > Brave New World > chairman + lifelong control > change the law > disagree > Disney emigrate > I oppose > immortality > incapable ruler > lifelong > long live the emperor > my emperor > personality cult > praise the emperor > shameless > slavery > take the yellow gown > throughout the ages > Winnie the Pooh > Xi JinP > Xi Zedong > N > > > pmcmanus > s273 > > > I assume that this is not fake news! it seemed to a poem to this poor old head because of the context even though just a list cheers P recovering from bouts of whatever nasties > > The letter N was blocked from social media search results in China as officials attempted to quell dissent against President Xi Jinping. Other phrases blocked included 1984, Winnie the Pooh and even the word for “disagree” after Xi put in motion a plan to remove the two-term limit and remain in power indefinitely. Read more Winnie-the-Pooh ‘a philosopher to rival Plato and Confucius’ Images of Winnie the Pooh have been used to criticise Xi, ostensibly because both are rotund. > The reason for the ban on the letter N is more obscure, with one expert suggesting the slightly unsatisfactory explanation that it was “probably out of fear on the part of the government that ‘N’ = ‘n terms in office’, where possibly n > 2.” N was also swiftly reinstated, according to watchers of the most popular Chinese social network Sina Weibo at the Chinese Digital Times. The speed of its reappearance could lend credence to the idea that it was blocked by mistake. Rare backlash The blocklist was put in place by Chinese officials to stem discussion of constitutional amendments that would get rid of the 10-year limit brought in by Deng Xiaoping. The limit was intended to avoid the turmoil of transitioning out of an administration focused on a single person for a long time, as was the case after the death of Mao. The change to the constitution has already sparked a rare backlash in China, where political dissent is censored and dealt with harshly. Many of the terms blocked on Weibo are related to the cult of the emperor in China, including “long live the emperor” and “ascend the throne”, which could be seen as criticisms of the power grab by analogy to Xi. “Xi Zedong”, a company of Xi’s name and that of Mao Zedong, is also banned. > > https://inews.co.uk/author/karl-mcdonald/ > China bans the letter N as it cracks down on political dissent > Read more at: http://inews.co.uk/news/world/china-bans-letter-n-cracks-political-dissent/?utm_campaign=iNews%20-%20Daily%20RSS%20Newsletter&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=61011670&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8Sd18YStl1cwMEzkOYPRs5I7yIs8YU7osVjWurjJjFIEifWHAJbqLl00AJVcum2DK-3kr4KGnhSnPMi6ZeuawGg-1U5cNZ1sf7kQbF6YxlJpwmb2M