Winnie the Pooh is a beloved children's icon from Disney. But the character that has long been known for his fond of food, has been blacklisted in China following comparisons between the bear and China's President Xi Jinping.
The character's name in Chinese was censored in posts on Sina Weibo, a social media platform similar to Twitter. Any attempts to post Pooh's Chinese name on Weibo will prompt a message: "Content is illegal." A collection of Winnie-the-Pooh gifts also disappeared from social messaging service WeChat.
Memes pairing Pooh with President Xi first appeared in 2013 after the President took a stroll beside former President Barack Obama, whose thin frame reminded some of Tigger, Pooh's taller companion. A later meme was made, casting Xi as Pooh alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, portrayed as the diffident Eeyore.
Qiao Mu, an assistant professor of media at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told that some online users had been detained after commenting on the President.
It is not only that China's will not tolerate ridicule of the country's leader, they also do not want to turn this beloved Disney character to a kind of online euphemism for the Communist Party's general secretary.
China's censorship around Winnie the Pooh is another act of censorship ahead of the country's 19th National Congress of the Communist party. It's not uncommon for China to censor some things before major events happen.