CDT presents a monthly series of censored content that has been added to our “404 Deleted Content Archive.” Each month, we publish a summary of content blocked or deleted (often yielding the message “404: content not found”) from Chinese platforms such as WeChat, Weibo, Douyin, Xiaohongshu (RedNote), Bilibili, Zhihu, Douban, and others. Although this content archived by CDT Chinese editors represents only a small fraction of the online content that disappears each day from the Chinese internet, it provides valuable insight into which topics are considered “sensitive” over time by the Party-state, cyberspace authorities, and platform censors. Our fully searchable Chinese-language “404 Deleted Content Archive,” currently contains 2,274 deleted articles, essays, and other pieces of content. The entry for each deleted item includes the author/social media account name, the original publishing platform, the subject matter, the date of deletion, and more information.
Below is Part Two of the summary of deleted content from October 2025. (Part One includes 14 deleted posts; Part Two includes 17 deleted posts.) Between October 1-31, CDT Chinese added 31 new articles, mostly from WeChat, to the archive. Topics targeted for deletion in October included: environmental issues (such as factory pollution in Mianyang, Sichuan, and a controversial fireworks display in Shigatse, Gyantse County, Tibet); the Nobel Prize; the deadly crash of a Xiaomi SU7 electric vehicle in Chengdu; sexual assault and online harassment; overly intrusive Chikungunya-prevention measures in Guangdong; official opacity in the wake of two lethal accidents; crop failures due to heavy autumn rains in Henan; and the impending closure (later cancelled) of You Xing Bookstore in Chengdu, Sichuan. (Note that the dates in this summary refer to when an article was published on the CDT website, not when it was deleted from Chinese social-media platforms.)
15. “I Have Filed Multiple Lawsuits Against Men Who Harassed and Spread Rumors About Me Online,” by March vulcanus, WeChat account March Cloud
October 17, 2025
March Cloud, who blogs about topics related to feminism and women’s rights, reveals the onslaught of online harassment, insults, and personal threats that she has received online, as well as coordinated doxxing and “malicious reporting” efforts. She includes screenshots of some of these insults and threats, and screenshots of paperwork related to lawsuits that she has filed against her harassers. March Cloud acknowledges the difficulty and expense of filing such lawsuits—she has expressly refused any financial settlement or mediation—and admits that the best she can hope for is probably an apology. But her long-term goal is to hold online abusers to account and to continue providing her readers a safe and supportive online space in a society increasingly hostile to feminist voices.
16. “Yang Lanlan Fails to Appear in Court for Third Time,” by Zheng Liying, from China Newsweek’s official WeChat account
October 20, 2025
A relatively straightforward article about a court hearing in Sydney in the case of Yang Lanlan, a 23-year-old Chinese woman charged with four offenses (including dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm) for crashing her Rolls-Royce Cullinan SUV into another vehicle in July of this year, seriously injuring the other driver. Yang did not appear in person for the hearing, but was represented by her solicitor, who requested another adjournment to allow more time to gather case documents and negotiate a possible plea deal with the police. The article mainly focuses on the four charges that Yang is facing, and on a key upcoming court date that, depending on how Yang pleads, will determine whether the case proceeds to sentencing or will continue into what could be a lengthy trial. There is a brief mention of the intense public interest in the case, due to Yang’s mysterious background, unexplained wealth, and extravagant lifestyle, but no mention of the unsubstantiated but widespread rumours that she might come from a politically powerful family in China. (Late last week, Yang’s solicitor Michael Korn entered a not guilty plea to all four charges and requested a brief of evidence from the police to review. The case will return to court on January 30, 2026.)
17. “Mianyang, Sichuan Province: Two Complaints Reveal an Overlooked Case of Fatal Pollution,” by Brother Nut, WeChat account The Situation’s Complicated
October 20, 2025
This report by artist and environmental activist Brother Nut (坚果兄弟, jiānguǒ xiōngdì, sometimes translated as “Nut Brother”) highlights two recent public complaints—addressed to Sichuan Provincial Party Secretary Wang Xiaohui and Mianyang Municipal Party Secretary Zuo Yongxiang, respectively—about an escalating public health emergency due to industrial pollution in Mianyang, Sichuan Province. Residents have complained about widespread crop damage, defoliation of nearby trees, and severe respiratory problems due to factory smoke and toxic fumes from a nearby fertilizer plant. The article mentions past fines levied against factories in the area, environmental pollution stretching back decades, and the fertilizer plant’s negligent decision to resume production in August, despite clear signs of ecological harm. The report concludes with four recommendations: immediate shutdown of the fertilizer plant for a third-party environmental audit; installation of the latest pollution-capture and mitigation technology; an investigation by local government departments into the plant’s decision to restart production; and financial compensation to farmers and affected residents.
18. “I Suggest That Ukraine Bomb The Russian State Archives in Moscow,” by Xu Peng, WeChat account Du Fu of Huanhua Creek (浣花溪杜甫, Huànhuāxī Dù Fǔ)
October 21, 2025
A strongly pro-Ukraine article by WeChat blogger Xu Peng castigates U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice-President J.D. Vance for showing disrespect to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during his August meeting at the White House. (Their earlier meeting in February was also criticized by many Chinese netizens for the same reason, despite the generally pro-Russian tone of Chinese state media and social-media platforms.) Xu Peng speculates about what leverage Russian President Vladimir Putin might have over his political underlings, and possibly even over Trump, and semi-facetiously suggests that were Ukraine to bomb Russia’s State Archives in Moscow, it might free various actors to oppose Putin’s war in Ukraine.
19. “Mosquito Eradication Guidelines List 22 Types of ‘Negative Behaviors’ to Avoid,” by Xu Peng, WeChat account Du Fu of Huanhua Creek (浣花溪杜甫, Huànhuāxī Dù Fǔ)
October 22, 2025
Following public backlash to overly intrusive mosquito-eradication policies during a Chikungunya outbreak in Pengyuan and other areas of Guangdong Province, this article lists 22 guidelines released by Pengyuan community officials for “preventing and rectifying negative behaviors in epidemic prevention and control work.” These include felling trees, killing pets, illegally entering residents’ properties or disposing of their possessions, unauthorized collection or dissemination of residents’ personal information, and unauthorized imposition of administrative penalties. The guidelines also forbid using toxic pesticides, spraying in crowded public areas, spraying items that people might touch or consume, and disrupting normal business activity or subjecting businesses to onerous fumigation protocols. Xu further comments on the dangers of epidemic-prevention overreach and the excesses of China’s three years of “zero-COVID” policies: “Reading through this long list of violations is truly shocking. These epidemic-prevention personnel, having gained a tiny bit of power during the COVID-19 pandemic, can now amplify that power infinitely and use it to make things difficult for others.” Xu concludes on a humorous note, with a little ditty he wrote—“In the Name of Mosquitos,” set to the tune of Jay Chou’s “In the Name of the Father.”
20. “‘Looking at a Courtyard Full of Moldy Corn, I Wanted to Cry’—an Investigation into the Huanghuai Region Autumn Harvest,” by Xie Xuewei, China Newsweek official WeChat account
October 22, 2025
A long-form investigative report from China Newsweek into crop failures in Henan and neighboring provinces after record-setting rains forced farmers in the region to rush their autumn grain harvest. Interviews with farmers describe plummeting grain prices, crops destroyed by mold, the added expense of having to hire additional laborers to get crops harvested quickly before they rotted in the fields, and an inability to avail themselves of the services at government-subsidized “drying stations.” Many farmers complained that these drying stations often refuse to process small batches of wet grain from individual farmers, because they claim it isn’t cost-effective. The report highlights how government subsidies intended to help farmers are instead enriching the owners of these drying facilities, who buy waterlogged grain cheaply from desperate farmers and resell it at a profit. “We’re the ones suffering from this disaster,” said one farmer, “but it’s the operators of the drying stations who are getting subsidies, and now they’re not even willing to dry our grain.”
21. “Henan’s Most Destructive Autumn Rains in Sixty Years: Crops That Farmers Saved from Summer Drought Are Now Rotting in the Fields,” by reporter Wei Zhaoyang and interns He Xinyue and An Yueyang; Sanlian Life Weekly official WeChat account
October 22, 2025
This long-form investigative report from Sanlian Life Weekly, with a strong focus on farmers’ lives and livelihoods, features moving stories from farmers in Henan about this autumn’s heavy rainfall, crop failures, and enormous financial losses that make it more difficult for them to support their families, educate their children, and care for elderly parents. Some farmers spoke about why they chose to stay in the countryside and farm: one woman confides that she stays for the mental well-being of her kids, even though she knows she could make more money working in the city. Like the similar report from China Newsweek, this piece also mentions complaints from small farmers about being unable to use the drying stations because they don’t meet the minimum quantity requirements, highlighting a mismatch between farmers’ needs and the for-profit operators of the drying stations.
22. “After Pollution Exposé, Local Government Departments Infiltrate a 13-Person WeChat Group Chat to ‘Manage’ Public Opinion,” by Brother Nut, WeChat account The Situation’s Complicated
October 24, 2025
Another censored article from artist and environmental activist Brother Nut about the Mianyang pollution scandal. Brother Nut notes that although his previous article on the subject was deleted by platform censors, it included a QR code for a WeChat group chat, which local officials (pretending to be concerned citizens) apparently used to infiltrate the group chat in a bid to influence public opinion. The amusing article includes extensive screenshots of group chats and the author’s own research, which revealed that at least two new group members were not who they claimed to be. One interloper turned out to be a local cadre whose online bio indicated that his responsibilities included “ecological and environmental protection.”
23. “Domestic Electric Vehicle Crashes Into Shiyan’s Chongqing Road Elementary School, Many Students and Parents Killed or Injured,” from WeChat account Aquarius Era
October 25, 2025
On October 22, a car plowed into a large crowd of students and parents near an elementary school in the city of Shiyan, Hubei province, resulting in at least one fatality, four serious injuries, and numerous other minor injuries. Three days of silence from media outlets and local police and authorities left many Chinese netizens frustrated and angry. One effort to break the silence came from freelance journalism collective Aquarius Era, which published this extensive (now deleted) report featuring eyewitness accounts, photos, and a diagram of the scene of the collision. One of the parents interviewed describes seeing six or seven children lying on the ground, security guards performing CPR on unresponsive victims, and at least nine ambulances and many traffic police vehicles at the scene. The article also documents online and offline censorship following the collision: police shooing people away from the scene of the crash; families of hospitalized victims being assigned local cadres as “minders” and having their cellphones confiscated (a pattern of ensuring or enforcing relatives’ “emotional stability” often seen in official handling of “sudden incidents”); muting of parent-teacher group chats; search censorship for “Shiyan” and other related terms on at least four social media platforms; and content about the incident being deleted from WeChat, Douyin, QQ, and RedNote. One person reported that, after posting a video of the crash on Douyin, they received a warning call from local police.
24. “From Zhang Xuefeng to Trump, the Whole World Is Turning Toward ‘Sophisticated Selfishness,’” WeChat account Cicero by the Sea
October 26, 2025
WeChat blogger Cicero by the Sea argues that a global trend toward “sophisticated selfishness” (精致利己主义, jīngzhì lìjǐzhǔyì) is displacing communal ideals, as evidenced by figures such as Chinese education influencer Zhang Xuefeng, U.S. President Donald Trump, and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. (The phrase, coined by Peking University Professor Qian Liqun, refers to a philosophy that prioritizes self-interest and personal gain over nobler ideals, but makes use of sophisticated methods to rationalize instrumentalist behavior.) The author discusses Trump’s “America First” strategy and other nationalist movements in Japan and Europe that frame themselves in terms of a populist retreat from shared or global values. The article concludes that while the world seems headed toward a “selfish era,” this cycle of selfishness often proves self-defeating, and may lead to a period of instability before the pendulum swings back toward altruism and concern for the public good.
25. “Even Recruiting for a ‘Nepo Gig’ Requires Some Technical Skill,” by Gu Yun, WeChat account Narwhal Studio
October 27, 2025
Author Gu Yun criticizes criticizes a suspected “radish hole” position (萝卜岗, luóbo gǎng) or “nepo job” that was recently posted by a recruitment center in Xinhua County, Henan Province. The position had no major requirements for associate degree holders but imposed strict, oddly specific restrictions on bachelor’s and master’s degree applicants, suggesting it was designed for a predetermined candidate. After public outcry, local authorities apologized and promised an investigation. Gu Yun notes that such nepotistic hiring practices are difficult to eliminate in county-level Chinese politics, and sarcastically suggests that if officials must engage in such corruption, they at least ought to employ some “technical skill” to make it less obvious.
26. “Why Did Officials Wait Eight Days to Inform the Public About an Accident That Killed Four People?” by Chu Chaoxin, WeChat account 衣者朝新 (Yīzhě Cháoxīn)
October 27, 2025
In this article, seasoned journalist Chu Chaoxin criticizes local officials in the city of Qidong, Jiangsu province, for waiting eight days to issue a statement about a fatal traffic accident. On October 18, four tourists were killed when the sightseeing bus they were on was hit by heavy winds, overturned, and fell into a body of water. Chu notes that the statement was released at the suspiciously late hour of 12:51 a.m. on October 26, likely to minimize public attention, and that the long delay in making the information public was a violation of both national and provincial policies requiring timely (within several hours) disclosure of major incidents. Lastly, Chu emphasizes that accountability lies not with Qidong’s low-level spokespeople, but with top local leaders who presumably made the decision to delay and downplay the public statement.
27. “The Controversy Surrounding Zheng Zhihua’s ‘Crawling’ Stems From Two Different Frames of Reference,” by Xu Peng, WeChat account Du Fu of Huanhua Creek (浣花溪杜甫, Huànhuāxī Dù Fǔ)
October 27, 2025
Xu Peng discusses the intense debate over Taiwanese singer Zheng Zhihua’s complaint about a lack of barrier-free access while boarding a flight at Shenzhen’s main airport. Zheng, now in his 60s, had polio as a child and uses leg braces, crutches, and a wheelchair for mobility. After he posted a strongly worded criticism on Weibo, Zheng was supported by some netizens and attacked by others. He later apologized for speaking in anger and deleted his Weibo account, likely due to an onslaught of personal attacks. Xu analyzes the controversy in terms of differing expectations and frames of reference: “Zheng Zhihua has long lived in Taiwan, [where] disabled people have access to barrier-free facilities and humane treatment when traveling. Coming to a place that offers insufficient care and consideration for disabled people, it is only natural that he would feel uncomfortable. Many netizens suspected him of exaggerating because he didn’t literally have to ‘crawl’ onto the plane, but as someone accustomed to eating fine grain, he naturally found our coarser bran hard to swallow. Whereas Chinese netizens, accustomed to even less edible fare, think they’ve got it pretty good when they get a bite or two of coarse bran. This is the gap in understanding caused by two different groups of people operating under two very different frames of reference.”
28. “We Should Wait and See How the Township Handles It. We Don’t Want to Be Used as Pawns,” by Brother Nut, WeChat account The Situation’s Complicated
October 28, 2025
This article from artist and environmental activist Brother Nut about ongoing industrial pollution in Mianyang, Sichuan Province was his fourth censored article on the topic during October. It contains a timeline of events thus far, including more detail about the infiltration by local cadres (posing as ordinary citizens) of a small group chat for residents concerned about the effects of industrial pollution on their soil, water, and health. Brother Nut includes screenshots showing one group-chat member suspiciously trying to dissuade the others from confronting local government officials, advising, “We should wait and see how the township handles it. We don’t want to be used as pawns.”
29. “So Then, Today We Say Goodbye,” by Zhang Feng, WeChat account 城市的地得 (Chéngshì de de de)
October 29, 2025
On October 29, former journalist Zhang Feng—the founder of Chengdu’s beloved You Xing Bookstore—announced on WeChat that due to “force majeure” (unspecified reasons beyond his control, likely referring to official pressure), the bookstore would be closing its doors on November 28. When an online commenter asked, “Why? The bookstore has always had such good events,” Zhang replied, “That’s exactly the reason.” In this post, Zhang explains his personal philosophy and focuses on the bookstore’s legacy: “My ideal bookstore is a place where the staff is passionate about reading, there’s great coffee, and everyone is welcome to come, share their opinions, and become their best selves. I’m so happy that, to this day, the bookstore is still the way I like it. All of the events, too, are things I enjoy. I have no regrets. Opening a bookstore is a creative journey that must someday come to an end. […] So it is, my friend. I have fought the good fight.” Fortunately, within a week, Zhang was able to announce that You Xing had been given a reprieve and would be able to stay in business.
The entrance to You Xing Bookstore: a clean, well-lighted place (source: WeChat account 麦客自留地)
30. “You Don’t Need to Send Flowers to the Bookstore Anymore,” by Zhang Feng, WeChat account 城市的地得 (Chéngshì de de de)
October 30, 2025
In the week following Zhang’s announcement of the impending closure of You Xing Bookstore, there was an outpouring of fond tributes from the bookstore’s customers and supporters. Zhang, too, published almost daily articles about the bookstore and its past events and loyal customers. In this article, he reminisces about some of You Xing’s regular customers, including one woman who frequently brought her daughter to the bookstore, and even sent flowers to the bookstore and its staff. Several days later, readers learned that You Xing Bookstore would be able to stay open, perhaps in part because of the many tributes and supporters both known and unknown.
31. “Former Kuanyu Employee Alleges Sexual Assault During a Business Trip; Suspect Was Detained, But Case Was Dropped By Prosecutors Due to Lack of Evidence Proving Violence or Coercion,” by Wang Yuzheng, from Chengdu’s Red Star News
October 31, 2025
A former employee of Shanghai Kuanyu Digital Technology Co., Ltd (affiliated with Bilibili) reported being raped by a male business associate, surnamed Shao, during a business trip to Sanya in December 2023. Although Shao was criminally detained and extensive evidence was collected (including his DNA on her undergarments), prosecutors declined to charge the man, claiming that available evidence was insufficient proof that he employed violence or coercion. The woman disputed the prosecutors’ interpretation of events, and plans to continue pursuing justice through legal channels.
