The Chinese Communist Party’s internet censorship is becoming increasingly strict and even more unbelievable. Officially established taboos and sensitive words have made even the name and appearance of the party leader, Xi Jinping, sensitive symbols. A private entrepreneur recently posted a video to celebrate surpassing 10,000 followers on a social media account, but was suspected of resembling Xi Jinping. Initially, commenting was prohibited, and later the account was shut down. Similar violations have been occurring frequently in recent years.
On May 7th, a video circulated on platform X showed a Douyin (TikTok) influencer named “Mudanjiang Shunfeng Dongge” announcing, “Today, I have some good news to share with you all – my account on a certain platform has officially exceeded 10,000 followers. I am a native of Mudanjiang, a veteran in the service industry. I have always believed that individuals must actively embrace the internet, step into new media. New media is not a choice but a necessity, it is the direction of the new era.” (link)
The video received 174,000 reposts and 40,000 likes on Douyin, but there were no comments.
The video was reposted on an overseas platform X, where the influencer’s resemblance to Xi Jinping sparked discussions. Some netizens jokingly speculated that the reason commenting was disabled was because of the similarity in appearance to Xi Jinping.
Subsequently, the video was deleted from Douyin, and the account of “Mudanjiang Shunfeng Dongge” is no longer searchable on the platform.
Another Douyin influencer, who also bore a slight resemblance to Xi Jinping, appeared in a video carrying a child. The video garnered 60,000 reposts, 13,000 likes, but received no comments. However, the video has been deleted, and the account’s profile picture has been changed. Netizens on platform X also believed that the reason for banning comments and deleting the video was due to the influencer’s resemblance to Xi Jinping.
The aforementioned videos and images sparked heated discussions among netizens on platform X:
“This regime is even afraid of mirrors, and individuals who look like Xi will be treated as stabilizing elements.”
“Xi Jinping has a common face of the masses from the countryside, causing many people to be upset.”
“Isn’t this an exaggeration? Is it a crime to resemble someone?”
“In a different comment section, I mentioned this, and was permanently banned. Isn’t that too harsh?”
“If this happened in Taiwan, looking like the president (or former president) would become news, and if lucky, might attract a comment from the president.”
In recent years, there have been increasing instances of individuals being banned from mainland Chinese social media platforms for resembling Xi Jinping.
In a recent case, a man from Shandong, who sold seashells and conches on a platform, was deemed to have violated regulations because he resembled Xi Jinping in some selfies. Netizens mocked this as “the extreme absurdity of the Xi era.”
Chinese opera singer Liu Keqing, who closely resembles Xi Jinping, has had multiple social media accounts repeatedly shut down over the years due to this issue, causing him great distress.
On May 22 of last year, Liu Keqing posted an article titled “The Dilemma of My Face” on his social circle, stating, “Every time I get deleted, I have to change to a new profile picture. I always carefully swap it for the most plain and mundane picture of myself, trying to make it as ordinary as possible. It’s been almost a year since I last got deleted or warned. But the day before yesterday, I got wiped and warned again for the same reason, and this time the punishment is not showing my face for 30 days!”