"Big Yellow Duck," "May 35th," and Other Words You Can't Use on China's Twitter Today

Chinese authorities are working overtime to censor search phrases like "big yellow duck," "June 4" and even the simple search term "today" on Sina Weibo—aka China's Twitter—today. Why? Because those seemingly innocuous words all refer to the Tiananmen Square massacre, where the Chinese government brutally cracked down on peaceful pro-democracy protestors in Beijing on June 4, 1989. Tuesday marks the 24th anniversary of the bloody demonstration, and though the Chinese Communist party has officially forbidden any open discussion of the "June 4 incident," Chinese citizens still haven't forgotten what day it is. Instead, they're taking to the Internet and using, as the Guardian ever-so-perfectly puts it, "ever-more oblique references to commemorate the tragedy, treating censors to an elaborate game of cat-and-mouse. 

By Jennifer Lai /Slate /more