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Censorship
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Anything from rubber ducks to iPads are being used to keep the memory of Tiananmen alive

Censors work overtime cracking down on obscure memes that might reference the Tiananmen Square crackdown

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Anything from rubber ducks to iPads are being used to keep the memory of Tiananmen alive
Masha Borak
This article originally appeared on ABACUS

Chinese internet users have many ways to refer to June 4, 1989. Some call it May 35th. Some write 6489 or 8964. Others turn to mathematical equations to refer to those number sequences: 32x2, 88+1, 65-1, 2^6.

All of these terms are diligently censored on China’s internet. They are just some of the more than 3,400 expressions used to refer to the bloody government crackdown that happened that day, quashing student protests that began in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square and left hundreds, possibly more than 1,000, dead.

But the effort to obliterate the event from China’s collective memory doesn’t stop there. Pictures, expressions and anything else that could potentially remind people of the event can disappear from social media platforms such as WeChat and Weibo in a matter of seconds.

A set of Mahjong tiles or even an iPad with 64GB of storage can hold a secret message. (Pictures: Weiboscope)
A set of Mahjong tiles or even an iPad with 64GB of storage can hold a secret message. (Pictures: Weiboscope)
Some examples of the random of words already censored are “that day,” “Pelosi” and “candle.” A somewhat extreme example is not being able to send RMB 89.64 or RMB 64.89 through WeChat Pay.

To avoid censorship, savvy online users have been disguising the event in memes. Instead of putting up real photos from the protests, they concoct their own, with many referencing the famous Tank Man -- including one famous meme that replaces the tanks with rubber ducks.

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