2013 Southern Weekly incident

The 2013 Southern Weekly incident was a conflict which arose over government censorship of a "New Year's Greeting" published in the Chinese newspaper Southern Weekly. Guangdong Province's Propaganda Department bypassed standard censorship protocols by changing the headline and content of the New Year's message without first informing Southern Weekly editors. In protest, newsroom staff posted online criticisms of the state of free expression in China and went on a four-day strike. The incident also sparked public demonstrations against press censorship which took place outside Southern Weekly's headquarters in Guangzhou, China. As a result of the incident and the accompanying demonstrations, keywords such as "Southern Weekly," "January 7 protest," and "open letter" have become sensitive topics blocked by the Chinese firewall.

The Southern Weekly is a liberal-leaning paper founded in 1984 in Guangdong, Guangzhou. It is a part of the Nanfang Media Group (Chinese: 南方报业传媒集团), which is a provincial government-owned media corporation. Despite its ties to the Chinese Communist Party, Southern Weekly is known for hard-hitting journalism which tests the limits of free speech in China. The paper gained worldwide recognition in 2009, when U.S. President Barack Obama selected it, as opposed to the state television service, to interview him during his visit to China in that year. Southern Weekly's highest ranking editor, Xiang Xi, was demoted following the interview. Political theorists suggested that his demotion was punishment by the Party's propaganda department, angered because Southern Weekly did not seek its permission before agreeing to conduct the interview.

On January 3, 2013, Southern Weekly editors awoke to find that the New Year's Greeting they had penned two days earlier had been radically revised by government censors. The original version of the Greeting, written by staff reporter Dai Zhiyong (戴志勇), was titled Dream of China, Dream of Constitutionalism (Chinese: 中国梦，宪政梦). It called for the revitalization of human rights in China and the curtailment of excessive use of government power. The published version was titled "We Are Now Closer to Our Dream Than Ever Before" (Chinese: 我们比任何时候都更接近梦想) and was accompanied by an introductory message written by the highest-ranking member of the Guangdong Propaganda Office, Tuo Zhen. The introductory message, titled "Pursuing Our Dreams" (Chinese: 追梦), praised the Chinese Communist Party and quoted directly from the New Year's message published in the Party-run newspaper Official Peoples Daily.

In early December, Southern Weekly's editorial board decided upon "travelling across the river" (过河) as the topic of the New Year's message. However, chief editor Huang Can (黄灿), did not like the idea. In mid-December, Huang suggested that "Chinese Dream" (中国梦) be adopted as the keyword for the message. On the night of December 23, the editorial board finalized the following preliminary plan for New Year's edition:

1. New Year's Message: Analyze the question "At what stage is the Chinese Dream; What kind of Chinese Dream should China have now." Later this formed the first draft of Chinese Dream, Constitutional Dream (《中国梦 宪政梦》).

2. Past Chinese Dreams: Reflect on the past century and consider how the Chinese Dream evolved throughout it.

3. Dreams and Reality: A list of notable figures from the past year who embody the Chinese Dream and contributed to its advancement.

4. Journalist Actions: Chronicle the daily lives of select journalists and report on their personal and professional dreams.