How China’s censorship machine worked to block news of deadly attack


By AFP
November 13, 2024

It took officials nearly 24 hours to reveal that dozens had died

 - Copyright AFP Hector RETAMAL

Mary YANG

At least 35 people were killed and dozens more injured when a man ploughed his car into pedestrians exercising around a sports centre in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai on Monday night.

Footage showing bodies lying on the pavement appeared on social media in the hours after the crash but had vanished by early Tuesday morning, and local police reported only “injuries”.

It took officials nearly 24 hours to reveal that dozens had died — in one of the country’s deadliest incidents in years.

Here AFP looks at how China jumps into action to block information it does not want shared:


– Social media scrub –

China heavily monitors social media platforms, where it is common for words and topics deemed sensitive to be removed — sometimes within minutes.

On X-like social media platform Weibo, videos and photos showing the bloody moments after the incident late Monday night were swiftly deleted.

Videos of the aftermath posted to Xiaohongshu, China’s equivalent to Instagram, were also taken down.


– 24-hour delay –

Chinese officials did not reveal that dozens had died until almost 24 hours after the attack, with state media reporting the 35 deaths shortly after 6:30 pm on Tuesday.

Soon after, the hashtag “Man in Zhuhai rammed the crowd causing 35 deaths” jumped to the No. 1 trending topic on Weibo and reached 69 million views within an hour.

The fatal crash happened on the eve of China’s largest airshow, taking place in the same city, a showpiece event promoted for weeks by the country’s tightly controlled state media operation.


– State narrative –

State media in China also acts as a government mouthpiece.

The state-backed newspaper Global Times on Wednesday morning published a short story on the “car ramming case” on page 3 — a stark contrast to the front page feature on fighter jets at the airshow nearby.

The Communist Party’s People’s Daily included Chinese President Xi Jinping’s instructions to treat injured residents and punish the perpetrator in a short block of text on its front page.

State broadcaster CCTV’s flagship evening news programme, Xinwen Lianbo, on Tuesday spent about a minute and a half on Xi’s directive to “treat those injured” during the 30-minute show, but shared no footage from the city.

– ‘Order from the top’ –

AFP reporters on the scene in Zhuhai late Tuesday night saw delivery drivers placing online orders of flower bouquets beside flickering candles to commemorate the victims.

But just a few hours later, cleaning staff cleared away the memorial, with some telling AFP they were acting on an “order from the top”.

A handful of people at the site were blocked from taking videos by a police car and security guards shouting: “No filming!”

– Long history –

China has a long history of clamping down on the spread of information, sometimes leading to costly delays in response.

Authorities in 2008 worked to stifle news of contaminated milk that poisoned about 300,000 children — days before the start of the Beijing Olympics.

The Chinese government that year also restricted foreign media access when protests broke out after an earthquake in southwest Sichuan province killed an estimated 70,000 people.

And Chinese censors delayed an early response to Covid-19, penalising local health officials who warned of a fast-spreading coronavirus.

35 dead, 43 injured in vehicle attack at sports center in China



Nov. 12, 2024 

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a 62-year-old driver to be "severely punished in accordance with the law" after crashing his vehicle into a crowd of people at a sports center in Zhuhai, killing 35 people and injuring 43 others. File Photo by Gianluigi Guercia/UPI | License Photo



Nov. 12 (UPI) -- A man drove a vehicle into a crowd at a sports center in Zhuhai, China, killing 35 people and injuring 43 others, police said.

The Zhuhai Municipal Public Security Bureau said in a statement that the "serious and vicious" attack Monday evening appeared to be deliberate on the part of the 62-year-old driver.

The driver, identified by the surname Fan, was detained at the scene, but was comatose due to a self-inflicted knife wound to the neck, police said.

A preliminary investigation found Fan was angry about the division of assets from his divorce, the statement said.

Investigators determined Fan, driving a small off-road vehicle, had crashed through a gate at the sports center and steered into a crowd of people who were exercising.

State-run Chinese news agency Xinhua reported Chinese President Xi Jinping called on Tuesday for Fan to be "severely punished in accordance with the law."

The attack took place on the eve of the annual Zhuhai airshow, which featured the debut of China's J-35A stealth fighter jet.

The incident is the latest in a string of violent incidents targeting civilians.

At least 11 people were killed in September when a bus crashed into a group of students and parents outside a school in Shandong, and that same month a 10-year-old boy on his way to a Japanese school in Shenzhen was fatally stabbed by a Chinese man.

Three people were killed and 15 injured in a knife attack at a Shanghai supermarket in an October incident on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Victor Shih, an expert on Chinese politics at the University of California, San Diego, said tensions are high in the country as a result of economic factors.

"When domestic demand is so weak and the largest property bubble the world has ever seen has popped, the wealth of the vast majority of households is shrinking and that will inevitably cause a lot of social tensions," Shih told The New York Times.