What links a failed Chinese emperor, Winne the Pooh and Xi Jinping?

A copy of a book that compared President Xi Jinping to a Chinese emperor and blamed his incompetence for the fall of the Ming dynasty 400 years ago was taken off the stores last week, according to reports.

Any content that might not adhere to China’s regulations, is thought to be potentially controversial, or is critical of China’s leaders is subject to strict censorship.

Dook Media Group (301025.SZ), the book’s publisher, announced the recall of “Chongzhen: The Diligent Emperor of a Fallen Dynasty” on October 16 owing to “printing problems”.

Censors have also deleted all screenshots of comments that compared the emperor to Xi, who started a record-breaking third term this year.

Historians have remarked that Chongzhen, whose reign came to an end with his suicide in 1644, was diligent as well as paranoid, including the persistent doubting of his subjects’ devotion.

According to Srikanth Kondapalli, a professor of Chinese studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, the censorship was probably caused by comparisons made online between the failing Chongzhen government and Xi’s alleged governance errors, from last year’s strict zero-COVID lockdowns and protests to the current economic slowdown.

“Using historical allusion and double entendre has become a way for the Chinese to work around strict censorship,” he said.

Several Chinese readers shared images of the book cover on their Weibo social media accounts, including words in bold critical of the emperor such as, “Bad moves one after another, the more diligent (Chongzhen was), the more the kingdom died”.

The book’s cover, which had Chongzhen’s name overlaid with a red noose, was also among the photographs that were circulated. “Paranoid and mercurial” was another tagline that appeared on the cover.

Online access to the book is not currently possible. Weibo searches for the title turned up nothing. Weibo also banned the author’s name, Chen Wutong, who passed away this year.

The book, which was released on September 1, was a reprint of a 2016 text with a changed cover and title.

Phrases like “This is fascism” that might be interpreted as criticising China’s recent zero COVID measures supported by Xi were covered in white in a recently published biography of the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, by Walter Isaacson.

Winnie the Pooh images that were part of an internet fad that compared Xi to the plump cartoon bear in the past were also removed from the Chinese internet.

(With agency inputs)