The List of Filtered Items
In The Order Of Things, Michel Foucault quoted Jorge Luis Borges who quoted a certain Chinese Encyclopaedia, which grouped "animals" as follows:
a) animals which belong to the emperor
b) embalmed animals
c) tamed animals
d) milk sows
e) sirens
f) fabulous beasts
g) dogs without a master
h) those which belong into this grouping
i) those who behave like mad
k) animals painted with a very fine brush of camel hair
l) and so forth
m) animals which have broken the water jug
n) animals which look like flies from afar.
This definition movitivated Foucault to write the book, which he said "first arose out of a passage in Borges, out of the laughter that shattered, as I read the passage, all the familiar landmarks of thought - *our* thought, the thought that bears the stamp of our age and our geography - breaking up all the ordered surfaces and all the planes with which we are accustomed to tame the wild profusion of existing things and continuing long afterwards to disturb and threaten with collapse our age-old definitions between the Same and the Other."
Now I have no idea what this so-called Chinese Encyclopaedia could conceivably be except that it was surely someone's practical joke. In any case, I like reading lists and trying to figure out the logic behind why the items in the list are collected together.
So it is that I read this list given at China Digital News. Here is the background:
It is an open secret that all Chinese Internet hosting services, including wireless and instant messenger services, filter user communication through key word blocking mechanisms. But overly vague and broad Chinese internet laws and the internet police force never made the forbidden words explicit -- Not until some Chinese hackers located a document within the installation package of QQ instant messaging software. The file contains over one thousand words, most of them in Chinese, which will be blocked by the service.
Owned by Tencent, QQ is China's most popular Instant Messenger service. On a regular basis, tens of millions of users use their service. On one day, March 13 , there were more than six million users online using QQ at the same time. Because of its high traffic volume, it is technically much harder to build in the key word filtering mechanism on the server's end. Instead, Tencent sneaked in a filtering program file in their installation package at the client end. When a client installs the QQ2003 software on their own computer desktop, a program file, called COMToolKit.dll, is automatically included. This file contains all the forbidden keywords, which will be automatically blocked when the client runs QQ.
Recently, some Chinese hackers located this file and released it on the Internet. The censored key words list is commonly used not just for QQ, but also for all websites, BBS and text messaging services.
The entire list is then provided at China Digital News. And what a fascinating list! I could spend days just trying to classify and rationalize the system! And there are in fact quite a few things that I don't even know! This is a wonderful way to expand my politico-cultural indoctrination.
The table below contains some quick groupings of the list items that I know (which guarantees that this page will be inaccessible in China if the filters are really working). On the whole, I would have to say that filtering is a losing cause. There are so many variations that can be played in the Chinese language that this static .dll file will be beaten with ease (for example, see the list of improper variations on the names of officials -- I know I have even nastier variations in mind). The only hope is to require users sign in with their IDs, record their entire sessions and then threaten them that any transgression will be punished eventually when the new workarounds are detected and all their previous sessions will be retroactively re-examined.
Postscript: China Herald noted that this page could be read without any problem in Shanghai, while the page at China Digital News was blocked. If true, then only URL blocking was in place (and this site was not banned whereas China Digital News was) and keyword filtering was not working. Why is my URL not banned in China? It ought to be because it carries quite a number of banned articles in English translation alongside their full Chinese originals which cannot be seen inside China. This website may be too small to come to the attention of Internet Nanny and this is the way to beat the system because even the 30,000 censors cannot humanly screen out something that appears simultaneously on 1,000 out of tens of millions of small websites with billions of web pages around the world.
Post-postscript: On further thought, this list must be for used only for filtering wireless and instant messaging only. There are some terms that are in the mainstream discourse, such as the 两会: the National People's Congress and the National Political Consultative Conference. If these terms are used to filter web pages including official communications, the government would grind to a halt.
| Obscenities | bitch; sex, av; fuck; incest; shit; 行房;自慰;色狼;胸罩;内裤;底裤;私处;爽死;妹疼;妹痛;弟疼;弟痛;姐疼;姐痛;哥疼;哥痛;同房;打炮;造爱;性交;性爱;作爱;做爱;操你;日你;日批;日逼;鸡巴;我操;操死;媽個;颜射;乳房;阴茎;阳具;开苞;肛门;阴道;阴蒂;肉棍;肉棒;肉洞;荡妇;阴囊;睾丸;捅你;捅我;插我;插你;插她;插他;干你;干她;干他;妓女;射精;口交;手淫;口淫;屁眼;阴户;阴门;下体;淫穴;龟头;阴毛;避孕套;你妈逼;大鸡巴;性高潮;性虐待;吹蕭;色狼;內褲;底褲;變態;变态;色情;嫖;卖淫;轮奸;幼齿;幼女;情妇.
For the English-only
reader, here are some translated terms: Terms not on the list: rape, sodomy, bestiality, fisting, cunilingus, dildo, vibrator, pedophilia, penis enlargement, golden shower, bondage, sexually transmitted disease, venereal disease, syphilis, ... we report and you decide if these other terms are permitted or just not done in China. Technical note: The national curse phrase is 肏你媽個B ("Fuck your mother's cunt"). The exact phrase would be easy to ban, so the workaround includes substituting 肏 with 草操糙曹嘈槽懆襙 etc which all sound like the same cao sound and substituting B with 逼必比筆畢避閉彼辟臂鼻壁斃碧鄙幣弊妣庇婢璧彼etc. For example, 肏你媽個B is rendered as 糙你媽個碧. This means that the list would have to contain many combinations. So the efficient solution is to key on the two words 媽個 ("mother's") that appear in the middle of the phrase and not worry about the header and trailer. This means that 肏你馬個B with 馬 substituting for 媽 should go through like a breeze. |
| Falun Gong | falu; falun; falundafa; flg; honzi; lihongzi; minghui; minghuinews; zhenshanren; zhuanfalun; 大法;弟子;护法;真善忍;明慧;大法;洪志;红志;洪智;红智;法轮;法论;法沦;法伦;宏法;发轮;发论;发沦;发伦;轮功;轮公;轮攻;沦功;沦公;沦攻;论攻;论功;论公;伦攻;伦功;伦公;功法;发愣;发轮;发正念;法愣;法抡;法仑;法伦;法轮;法论;法十轮十功;法十轮十功;法谪;法谪功;自焚;师父;弟子;抡功;伦功;轮大;轮功;护法;护法;李长春;李大师;李红痔;李宏志;李洪宽;李老师;升天;神通加持法;修炼 |
| Chinese officials |
朱镕基; insulting
variations:朱容基;朱溶剂;猪聋畸;朱毛;猪毛 江泽民; insulting variations: 江八点;江流氓;江则民;江贼民;江折民;江贼;江猪;僵贼;僵贼民;江猪媳;酱猪媳;将则民;老江 胡锦涛: insulting variations: 胡紧掏;胡锦滔;胡锦淘;胡景涛 李鹏: insulting variations:李小朋;李小鹏;李月月鸟. Mao Zedong is permitted but not the insulting variations: 毛厕洞;毛贼东;老毛 For
the English-only reader, here are some literal translations: Cultural exchange: In the United States, it is sufficient to simply say "Bush" to insult the president because the term refers to a clump of pubic hair. Per Molly Ivins' book titled Shrub : The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush, some people refer to the president as "Shrub" instead as a sign of his dim-wit. During the Republic National Convention, the bestselling slogan on the streets of New York City is: "No Bush, No Dick" where Dick refers to Vice President Dick Cheney as well as to a penis. |
| Political terms |
Political system: freedom;三个代表;一党;多党;接班;民主;自由;专政;打倒;大盖帽;革命;共产;首长;书记;人大;文字狱;专制;暴政;独裁;独裁政治;北京当局;持不同政见;主义;赤匪;赤化;反人类;反社会;粉饰太平;个人崇拜;国家安全;国家机密;红色恐怖;悔过书;建国党;禁看;劳改;劳教;抗议;游行;陆委会;两会;全国两会;两会报道;两会新闻;民意;舆论;舆论反制;人权;迫害;文革;五不;洗脑;新闻封锁;信用危机;高薪养廉;歌功颂德;泡沫经济;新闻封锁;学潮;上海帮. For the English-only readers, here are some translated terms: 民主democracy; 自由liberty;民意popular opinion;专制dictatorship;文革Cultural Revolution;持不同政见political dissidence;国家机密national secret;洗脑brainwash;迫害persecution;劳改labor reform;抗议protest;游行demonstration march;信用危机confidence crisis; 打倒 down with; 反社会 anti-social; 红色恐怖, red terror; 赤匪 red bandits. Corruption:
走私;公款;腐败;弹劾;高官;高干;高干子弟;高干子女;太子党. Law Enforcement: 警察;民警;公安;武警;交警;刑警;司法警官;消防队;黑社会;闹事;暴动;暴乱;动乱;空难;红灯区;夜总会. Tienanmen Square Incident: 民主墙;天安门;天安门录影带;天安门事件;天安门屠杀;天安门一代;六四;八九;王丹;柴玲;吾尔开希;流亡;屠杀. Taiwan: dpp; taip; 中华民国;台独;台盟;台湾独立;臺灣獨立;台湾狗;台湾建国运动组织;台湾青年独立联盟;反攻;反共;共匪;共狗;国军;两个中国;一中一台;两岸关系;水扁;吕秀莲;登辉;李总统;谢选骏;
民国;民联;亲美;青天白日旗;双十节;卖国 |
| Banned media |
boxun; chinaliberal; chinamz; chinesenewsnet; cnd; dajiyuan; freechina; hrichina; peacehall; playboy; reminbao; renmingbao; rfa; svdc; voa; voachinese;xinsheng; 北大三角地论坛;北京之春;北美自由论坛;春夏自由论坛;大紀元;大纪园;大纪元新闻网;大家论坛;大史;大史记;大史纪;大中国论坛;大中华论坛;大众真人真事地下刊物;东方时空;东方红时空;东南西北论谈;多维;反腐败论坛;飞扬论坛;风雨神州;开放杂志;看中国;风雨神州论坛;华通时事论坛;华夏文摘;华语世界论坛;华岳时事论坛;鸡毛信文汇;廉政大论坛;两岸三地论坛;龙虎豹;木子论坛;你说我说论坛;轻舟快讯;热比娅;热站政论网;人民报;人民真实;人民之声论坛;时代论坛;时事论坛;世界经济导报;台湾政论区;统独论坛;外交论坛;万维读者论坛;无界浏览器;新观察论坛;新华举报;新华内情;新华通论坛;新生网;争鸣论坛;正见网|;正义党论坛;中国复兴论坛;中国社会论坛;中国问题论坛;中华时事;钟山风雨论坛;自由民主论坛;数据中国;世纪中国基金会;反封锁技术. |
| True Mysteries |
This is a
list of items that are not banned in official media. In fact, they
are the pillars of the system. Why should the mention of these
items be banned in IM? Because there is no guarantee towards which
direction a discussion may head, so it is better to ban all discourse as
a precaution. This is where the absurdity of the censorship
becomes most obvious, and it must be distressing to even and especially
the true believers of the system.
三个代表 "Three represents", a political theory advocated by Jiang Zemin who said: "the Party must always represent the requirements of the development of China's advanced productive forces, the orientation of the development of China's advanced culture, and the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people in China." The media expounds on the theory, but the people can't talk about it or even praise it because of the possibility that someone might criticize it. 两会 The National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. The events are covered by all the media, except the people can't talk about it or even praise it because someone else just might criticize it. 公安 Public security. No, if a crime occurs such as a 走私 (smuggling) case, you can't even advise someone to call the police immediately. That's because they couldn't tell that legitimate situation (good) from someone else criticizing the police (bad). 消防队 Fire brigade. If you see a fire, you can't send a message for the fire brigade just in case you might be criticizing them. 真相 The truth. You are not permitted to talk about the truth about anything, just in case your idea of the truth is not politically correct in accordance with the current line. [Note: This may also be a reference to the series of books published by Mirror Books] 江澤民;李鹏;胡锦涛;温家宝;鄧小平Jiang Zemin, Li Peng, Hu Jintao, Wen Jiaobao and Deng Xiaoping are not to be invoked, just in case their names are used in vain. You can't even praise them. 中俄边界 The Sino-Russian border does not exist. 西藏 Tibet does not exist. 中国孤儿院;上海孤儿院 The Chinese Orphanage and the Shanghai Orphanage do not exist. 天安门 Tienanmen Square. This is the most famous street block in China. Sorry, you can't even tell anyone about your pilgrimage there to watch the flag-raising ceremony at dawn. This is a tacit acknowledgement that the place is indebily linked to that event on June 4th, 1989. 在十月 Nothing ever takes place in the month of October. On
that last item, imagine the following IM exchange: |
(SCMP via Asia Pacific Media Network) Web users get their ten cents worth despite the censors. By Andy Greenberg. October 5, 2004.
Comedian George Carlin had seven dirty words you were not allowed to say on television. Tencent, maker of the popular instant messaging programme QQ, has more than 1,000 it does not want broadcast in cyberspace.
Last month, a group of hackers uncovered a file buried within the operating instructions of QQ 2003. The file contains a list of words likely to rile government officials.
About 20 per cent deal with sexual jargon too rude to print in a family newspaper. For Chinese-language students looking to expand their vocabulary of naughty words, this .dll file is a good place to start. (Users of QQ 2003 should search for a document called COMtoolkit.dll. Newer versions of QQ's program lack the file).
The remainder of the list deals with politically touchy subjects. In the file, not surprisingly, are topics such as Falun Gong, the Tiananmen Square massacre and the independence movements in Taiwan, Xinjiang and Tibet.
But the file also hints at concerns about the Web being used to spread ultra-nationalism, with references to the Sino-Russian border and territorial dispute over the Diaoyu Islands.
Many of the words are general, such as "truth" and "idea", suggesting philosophical discussion is off-limits. Other words include references to official corruption and the cases of political prisoners.
Why some phrases appear on the list - "in October", "spring in Beijing", "toad" and "North Korea" - are a complete mystery. [Blogger's note: "Spring in Beijing" is a overseas Chinese-language pro-democracy magazine; see Beijingspring.com].
What is also not clear is how the .dll file works. It does not appear to block words from instant messages, suggesting its purpose is to alert officials to the discussion of sensitive topics.
Mainland internet users are aware of what critics have dubbed The Great Firewall of China, leading to the creation of new spellings for names and terms to bypass the censors.
The artfully insulting homonyms include spelling former premier Zhu Rongji's name so that it reads deaf and deformed pig. Chairman Jiang becomes soy sauce marinated pig daughter-in-law, while Mao Zedong's moniker is transformed into a vivid description of a toilet.
As the censors catch on, internet users are forced to come up with ever more inventive spellings.
Head of Human Rights in China Xiao Qiang said: "There are constantly new subjects and topics being banned by the government and [internet] users need to come up with new key words or phrases for these topics."
But despite the best efforts of Tencent, which did not respond to requests for comments, and other companies which aid government efforts to control discourse, Mr Xiao believed the internet had set China on a course from which it could not turn back.
"While the overall censorship is still effective, the Net has already created a bottom-up force and is constantly negotiating this new space with the old style, top-down censorship and propaganda regime," he said. "The transformative effect of the internet has already set China on an irreversible course towards greater openness and public participation in social and political life."
(Washington Post) Keywords Used to Filter Web Content. February 18, 2006.
The Washington Post obtained a list of keywords used by a Chinese blog service provider to flag offensive material. Of 236 items on the list, 18 were obscenities. The rest were related to politics or current affairs.
Most words on this list can be posted on Chinese Web sites, but their presence quietly alerts editors to examine the messages that contain them and possibly take action. In tests, postings that included long sections of the list were allowed to remain on several sites, but quickly removed from others. One site also blocked the computer used to conduct the tests from posting anything else.In addition, on most sites, at least some of the sensitive phrases cannot be posted at all. Depending on the site, filters replace the offending words with asterisks or block the entire message.
Below is the list. Obscenities have been withheld.
Names of People
Bao Tong
Chen Yonglin
Cui Yingjie
Ding Jiaban
Du Zhaoyong
Gao Jingyun
Gao Zhisheng
He Jiadong
He Weifang
Hu Xingdou
Hu Yuehua
Hua Guofeng
Huang Jingao
Jiang Mianheng
Jiang Yanyong
Jiang Zemin
Jiao Guobiao
Jin Zhong
Li Zhiying
Liang Yuncai
Liu Jianfeng
Liu Junning
Liu Xiabo
Nie Shubin
Nie Shubin (repeated)
Sun Dawu
Wang Binyu
Wang Lixiong
Xu Zhiyong
Yang Bin
Yang Dongping
Yu Jie
Zhang Weiying
Zhang Xingshu
Zhang Zuhua
Zhao Yan
Zhou Qing
Zhu Chenghu
Zhu Wenhu
Zi Yang (in English)
Ziyang (in Chinese)
Ziyang (in English)
zzy (in English, abbreviation for Zhao Ziyang)
Chinese Politics
17th party congress
Babaoshan
Beat the Central Propaganda Department
Blast the Central Propaganda Department
Block the road and demand back pay
Chief of the Finance Bureau
Children of high officials
China liberal (in English)
Chinese Communist high officials
Denounce the Central Propaganda Department
Down with the Central Propaganda Department
Impeach
Lin Zhao Memorial Award
Patriots Alliance
Patriots Alliance (abbreviated)
Patriots Alliance Web
Police chase after and kill police
Pollution lawsuit
Procedures for dismissing an official
Red Terror
Set fires to force people to relocate
Sons of high officials
The Central Propaganda Department is the AIDS of Chinese society
Villagers fight with weapons
Wang Anshi's reform and the fall of the Northern Song dynasty
Specific Issues and Events
Buy corpses
Cadres transferred from the military
Cashfiesta
Cat abuse
Changxin Coal Mountain
China Youth Daily staff evaluation system
Chinese orphanage
Chinese Yangshen Yizhi Gong
Demobilized soldiers transferred to other industries
Dongyang
Dongzhou
Fetus soup
Foot and mouth disease
Fuzhou pig case
Gaoxin Hospital
High-speed train petition
Hire a killer to murder one's wife
Honghai Bay
Horseracing
Jinxin Pharmaceutical
Kelemayi
Linyi family planning
Market access system
Mascot
Military wages
No Friendlies
Prosecutor committed suicide
Pubu Ravine
Shanwei government
Suicide of deputy mayor
Suicide of Kuerle mayor
Swiss University of Finance
Taishi village
Top ten worst cities
Wanzhou
Weitan
Zhang Chunxian welcomes supervision against corruption
Falun Gong
Terms related to the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, including phrases from its "Nine Commentaries" manifesto against the Communist Party:
Chinese Communist Party brutally kills people
dajiyuan (in English)
Defy the heavens, earth and nature. Mao Zedong
Epoch Times
Epoch Times (written with a different character)
Epoch Times news Web site
Evaluate the Chinese Communist Party
Evaluate the Chinese Communist Party (abbreviated)
falundafa (in English)
flg (in English)
Fozhan Qianshou Fa
Guantong Liangji Fa
In the Chinese Communist Party, common standards of humanity don't exist
Li Hongzhi
lihongzhi (in English)
Master Li
minghui (in English)
Mother and daughter accused each other, and students and teachers became enemies
New Tynasty TV Station
Nine Commentaries
No. 1 evil cult in the world
Obedient citizens under its brutal rule
People become brutal in violence, Chinese Communist Party
People developed a concept of the Chinese Communist Party, but
People who could escape have escaped, and had people to seek refuge with
Quit the party
Run the opposite direction of the so-called ideals of Communism
Shenzhou Jiachifa
Spring Festival Gala of the World's Chinese
Steal people's painstaking work
Truth, Compassion, Tolerance
Zhenshanren (in English)
Overseas Web Sites, Publications and Dissident Groups
Century China Foundation
China Issues Forum
China Renaissance Forum
China Society Forum
China Spring
Chinese Current Affairs
Chinese World Forum
EastSouthWestNorth Forum
EastWestSouthNorth Forum
Forum of Wind, Rain and the Divine Land
Freedom and Democracy Forum
Freedom to Write Award
Great China Forum
Han Style
Huatong Current Affairs Forum
Huaxia Digest
Huayue Current Affairs Forum
Independent Chinese PEN Center
Jimaoxin Collection
Justice Party Forum
New Birth Web
New Observer Forum
North American Freedom Forum
reminbao (In English)
remingbao (In English)
Small Reference
Spring and Summer Forum
Voice of the People Forum
Worldwide Reader Forum
You Say I Say Forum
Zhengming Forum
Zhidian Jiangshan Forum
Zhongshan Wind and Rain Forum
Taiwan
Establish Taiwan Country Movement Organization
Great President Chen Shui-bian
Independent League of Taiwan Youth
Independent Taiwan Association
New Party
Taiwan Freedom League
Taiwan Political Discussion Zone
Ethnic Minorities
East Turkestan
East Turkestan (abbreviated)
Han-Hui conflicts
Henan Zhongmu
Hui rebellion
Hui village
Langcheng Gang
Nancheng Gang
Nanren Village
Tibet independence
Xinjiang independence
Zhongmu County
Tiananmen Square
Memoirs of June 4 participants
Redress June 4
Tiananmen videotape
Tiananmen incident
Tiananmen massacre
Tiananmen generation
World Economic Herald
Censorship
Cleaning and rectifying Web sites
China's true content
Internet commentator
News blockade
International
Indonesia
North Korea falls out with China
Paris riots
Tsunami
Other
Armageddon
Bomb
Bug
Handmade pistol
Nuclear bomb
Wiretap
Chinese People Tell the Truth
Chinese People Justice and Evil
China Social Progressive Party
Chinese Truth Report
Dazhong Zhenren Zhenshi
Jingdongriji
Night talk of the Forbidden City
People's Inside Information and Truth