The following post by Sina-verified user @XiaoShanDoctorate (叶匡政), a researcher at an energy research center in Chengdu, was deleted from Sina Weibo sometime before 10:31pm Hong Kong time yesterday, February 28, 2012. @XiaoShanDoctorate currently has just under 30,000 followers, according to numbers from Sina Weibo. [More on deleted posts at the WeiboScope Search, by the Journalism and Media Studies Centre].
@XiaoShanDoctorate’s post, a re-post of a post by user @bxtv_XiaoFeng, criticizes the CCP-led cult around Guo Mingyi (郭明义), a manager at Anshan Iron and Steel Group Corporation (鞍山钢铁集团公司). Guo, previously dubbed an “Excellent Chinese Communist Party Member” (优秀共产党员), has been trumpeted as a modern-day Lei Feng (雷锋), an exemplar for all dutiful, obedient and hard-working Chinese. Fans of Guo Mingyi’s Sina Weibo account have topped six million, something Chinese internet users have questioned.
What qualification does someone whose fans are even fake have to be a moral exemplar? @bxtv_XiaoFeng: This thing is really building up! @AnGangGuoMingyi’s Weibo fan base has surpassed six million, but a great number of mummy fans (僵尸粉) are mixed in. I don’t know whether this is a propaganda strategy, but seeing it makes me a bit sick.
The post by @bxtv_XiaoFeng included the following image:
The original Chinese-language post from @XiaoShanDoctorate, with the post from @bxtv_XiaoFeng included, follows:
一个连粉丝都造假的人,有什么资格成为道德楷模? @bxtv_小丰:事情果然闹大了!@鞍钢郭明义 的微博粉丝超过600多万,大量僵尸粉混杂其间,不知是不是宣传策略,反正看着有点恶心。现在一斤被大伙揪住了!
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.