China Censors Web After Ominous Sign Stirs Echoes of Tiananmen

China’s online community buzzed with excitement and conspiracy theories yesterday as the country’s leading stock exchange, the Shanghai Composite Index, opened with an ominous numerological sign linked to the 23^rd anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown.

In an unlikely coincidence unwelcomed by China’s ruling communist party and government censors, the Shanghai stock benchmark fell 64.89 points on Monday – a number that bears uncanny relevance to the June 4, 1989 pro-democracy crackdown that took place in Beijing.

China’s online community buzzed with excitement and conspiracy theories yesterday as the country’s leading stock exchange, the Shanghai Composite Index, opened with an ominous numerological sign linked to the 23^rd anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown.

In an unlikely coincidence unwelcomed by China’s ruling communist party and government censors, the Shanghai stock benchmark fell 64.89 points on Monday – a number that bears uncanny relevance to the June 4, 1989 pro-democracy crackdown that took place in Beijing.

In yet another unfortunate twist, the index opened yesterday at 2,346.98, with many Chinese netizens deciphering the number 23 as the 23^rd anniversary of the crackdown, and the rest of the numbers 46.98, forming the date of the crackdown when read backwards.

For a country that ascribes great meaning to numbers, the bizarre coincidence prompted the Chinese censors to block the results for terms related to “Shanghai Composite Index”, “6489” and “4698”. Such searches drew the response, “According to law such words cannot be shown.”

Terms related to the anniversary, such as “June 4”, “23” and “blood” were also censored.

China does not allow any mainland events commemorating the crackdown, in which hundreds of protestors were killed by government troops in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

China’s state officials have since tried to dilute public memory of the incident, referring to the bloodshed as necessary in order to quell counterrevolutionary riot.

Both the Shanghai Stock Exchange and China Securities Regulatory Commission refused to comment on the bizarre numbers.

However, experts interviewed by Reuters agree that numbers were most likely an unfortunate coincidence rather than an index manipulation fuelled by political protest.

According to Reuters, Chinese leaders have in the past exhibited superstitious tendencies:

[quote] Numbers have been used to worry the government before. A Chinese numerologist that a series of disasters preceding the Beijing Olympics indicated that the games – scheduled to open on August 8, 2008 – were doomed to disaster. For example, he said the May 12, 2008, earthquake that rocked China’s Sichuan province, killing nearly 80,000 people, was an expression of numerological dissatisfaction by the heavens. Five, for May, plus one plus two equals eight, he said, adding that the quake happened 88 days before the start of the Beijing Olympics, which started on August 8 at 8:08 pm. [/quote]

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