(TibetanReview.net, Jul21’22) – Censors in China have removed from the social media site Weibo a poem which referred to the “fat head and big ears” of an insect for fear of offending President Xi Jinping, reported the indy100.com Jul 20.
The poem, an ode to cicadas, was reported to have been shared by its author Xuan Kejiong, on Weibo, where he has a staggering 1.6 million followers.
Inspired by his experiences of running in the summer heat, the poet was reported to have moaned of insects “crawling out of the dark”. However, apparently the reference to “fat heads and big ears” seen as being likely to be misconstrued and thus he was forced to remove the piece of work, the report said.
On being posted on Weibo, the poem had immediately gone viral. Within half an hour, the Shanghai Media Group began receiving constant inquiries, asking what exactly Kejiong meant by his words. And they got their man to remove the offending poem and put out a statement which read: “The Shanghai Media Group has solemnly criticised the reporter Xuan Kejiong, who realises his mistake… his personal reflections could be easily subject to creative association by others.”
The report called it an extraordinary state of affairs when people could find fault and take offence to subtext that isn’t even there.
Earlier, in one of the most incredible examples of the Streisand effect in history, the 2018 Christopher Robin film was banned in China because of widespread comparisons between President Xi Jinping and Winnie the Pooh, the report noted.