According to the most recent news reports, a fire at a warehouse in southeast Beijing yesterday, November 19, has killed 12 people. The following post by Xiao Han (萧含), a journalist with Yanzhou Metropolis Daily, was deleted from Sina Weibo sometime before 2:18am today, November 20, 2013. The post criticized the official police notice of the fire, which begins with a list of local leaders who are directing work on the scene, implying praise for the government’s robust response. Xiao Han currently has more than 45,000 followers on Sina Weibo. [More on deleted posts at the WeiboScope Search, by the Journalism and Media Studies Centre]

police notice

The deleted post reads:

Such a short official notice, and it starts with the list of leaders like a dung beetle rolling dung, gliding right over the 10 [now 12] dead.

The Chinese-language original follows:

这么简短的通报,却是一溜屎壳郎似的领导名单,10名死亡者却是一笔带过,@平安北京 你这好意思这么通报火情~?

Xiao Weibo

NOTE: All posts to The Anti-Social List are listed as “permission denied” in the Sina Weibo API, which means they were deleted by Weibo managers, not by users themselves.


David Bandurski

CMP Director

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