On September 3rd, the Chinese Communist Party held a military parade at Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Chinese media and social platforms were filled with so-called patriotic sentiments. However, in Anhui, a netizen was arrested and detained for 10 days by the police within 3 hours for commenting in a WeChat group, “What era is it…still doing these things.” Similarly, in Hubei, another netizen was detained for provocating disturbance for mocking the military parade.
During the military parade, a netizen from Anhui posted a comment at 9:28 am in a WeChat group called “Huaibei Cadillac Car Club” saying, “What era is it, still doing these things.” Some group members responded with question marks, showing concerns about the comment. Within just 3 hours, the netizen was arrested by the police at 12:28 pm on the same day and then administratively detained for 10 days for “disturbing social order”.
On September 4th, overseas social media accounts posted multiple screenshots and official records, including chat logs provided to the police, clearly showing the netizen’s comments and immediate responses from other group members. Another document, allegedly from the police, described the arrest process, indicating that the netizen had been forced to exit the group. Although there has been no official explanation yet, the incident has sparked widespread discussion.
On September 5th, Mr. Zhu, a netizen from Nanjing, Jiangsu, told reporters that before the military parade on September 3rd, community members had warned residents not to post “inappropriate comments” in online networks or WeChat groups. He said, “The community grid staff had already given a warning, not to complain or mock the military parade in the group, or complain about the disruption and expense caused by the military parade. They said you could say it privately, not online, otherwise the community would also take responsibility.”
Mr. Zhang, a netizen from Shandong, told reporters that chat groups in mainland China are under strict surveillance, and many people have stopped criticizing the government in the groups. However, some still cannot resist complaining, saying, “I’ve been banned from seven or eight groups. Once someone crosses the line in their comments, the group is done for. The perspective on the military parade by this netizen from Anhui actually reflects the views of the vast majority of ordinary people, but it cannot be expressed publicly.”
Furthermore, in Hubei, another netizen was detained for 10 days on the day of the military parade for “provoking trouble”. Xiangyang cyber police reported on September 4th that on September 3rd, a netizen, Mr. Meng (male, 47 years old), made abusive and defamatory remarks about the military parade on WeChat Moments.
An anonymous teacher from the School of Political Science and Public Administration at Zhengzhou University commented that the two cases of detention due to online comments indicate the ongoing increase in sensitivity and control over public opinion by the Chinese Communist Party during important political events. She said, “A brief comment with a critical tone was reported immediately, and the person was taken away by the police within 3 hours, showing how quickly the authorities act on ideological issues.”
She added that previously, students at the school had been warned for complaining about the food in internal chat groups. “Their (Chinese Communist Party’s) control over public opinion and ideological dynamics has reached its peak. What’s wrong with commenting on the food? This actually reveals the insecurity within the Chinese Communist regime.”
In the past decade, each major military parade by the Chinese Communist Party has been accompanied by excessive stability maintenance. Before the 2015 military parade on September 3rd, Beijing conducted a large-scale crackdown on dissenters and human rights lawyers, restricting the movements of many activists or forcibly “arranging travel”; during the military parade celebrating the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 2019, dissenting scholar Gao Yu and several human rights defenders were also summoned by the police, placed under soft detention, or forcibly expelled from Beijing.
A descendant of a veteran of the Anti-Japanese War who was “forcibly arranged to travel” to Tianshui, Gansu on August 29th, Mr. Li, told reporters that he would return home on the afternoon of September 5th. In the past week, he was prohibited from posting texts or images in chat groups and was also banned from accessing overseas websites.