The words missing in China on the anniversary of Tiananmen Square

Today marks the anniversary of the Chinese government’s 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square. But try searching for information about the day in a Chinese search engine or Weibo and you’ll come up short. 

The Chinese government has blocked results that acknowledge that something happened on June 4, banning more than 100 search terms. Among the words blocked: ‘Tiananmen Square,’ ‘June 4th,’ ‘student strike’ — and even words like ‘today,’ ‘tomorrow,’ ‘special day,’ and ‘candle.’

It’s nothing new. Last year, we wrote about the same thing: The Chinese government blocking words on the anniversary.

See a list of some of the blocked words here and an updated list of words blocked on Weibo here.