The Guardian: Ce*sored! China bans letter N (briefly) from internet as Xi Jinping extends grip on power
Amid fallout from the decision to allow Xi to be president for life, censors also crack down on letters, phrases and George Orwell’s Animal Farm.
It is the 14th letter in the English alphabet and, in Scrabble, the springboard for more than 600 8-letter words.
But for the Communist party of China it is also a subversive and intolerable character that was this week banished from the internet as Chinese censors battled to silence criticism of Xi Jinping’s bid to set himself up as ruler for life.
The contravening consonant was perhaps the most unusual victim of a crackdown targeting words, phrases and even solitary letters censors feared might be used to attack Beijing’s controversial decision to abolish constitutional term limits for China’s president.
The Communist party has painted the move - which experts say paves the way for Xi to become a dictator for life - as an expression of overwhelming popular support for China’s strongman leader. However, there has been widespread online push-back in China since it was announced on Sunday on the eve of an annual political congress in Beijing.
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WNU Editor: Someone pointed out to me a few days ago that WNU is blocked in China. Yes it is .... WNU is hosted on the Blogger platform (which is part of Google), and the platform itself is banned in China. For those who want to check on who is being censored/banned in China, go to this link here.
