With coded references to “eating melons” and “that person”, Chinese social media users are getting creative to discuss tennis star Peng Shuai online as censors race to scrub all mentions of her sexual assault allegations.
When Peng last month posted that former Chinese vice-premier Zhang Gaoli forced her to have sex, censors were quick to scrub the message and obvious discussion of Peng from social media.
The 35-year-old’s allegations spread on Twitter – which is blocked in China but accessible using special Virtual Private Networks – and sparked an international outcry.
And many found ways to get around the censorship inside the Chinese firewall, initially using Peng Shuai’s initials in English, “PS”, to refer to the former world doubles number one online.
Messages including those initials were soon censored.