1 Introduction

In December 2014, officials from the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT)—formerly the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT)
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—which regulates Chinese cultural life, announced at several online video industry conferences that content forbidden to be broadcast on traditional media would also be forbidden on new media. If we consider these announcements in the context of increasing oversight of public discourse since President Xi Jinping came to power in 2013, the unequivocal message was that online and offline censorship standards would be unified.
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Although the official announcements were explicit about the coming restrictions, they also implied the previous existence of a double standard applied to old and new media, which SARFT officials had never actually acknowledged but were nevertheless finally attempting to end.