--- description: Chinese censors have removed some images and text related to Winnie-the-Pooh from sites including WeChat and Weibo. title: Winnie the Pooh Is in Trouble With the Chinese Authorities image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee8048c99cd88a1d/6988d5da4ee26271de30e29e/gettyimages-458565705.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [China](/tag/china/) ## China Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Winnie the Pooh Is in Trouble With the Chinese Authorities Once Again by [Joseph Hincks](/author/joseph-hincks/) ## Joseph Hincks Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 17, 2017 6:01 AM CUT  Suffolk, Virginia, USA - April 21, 2011: A horizontal studio shot of the Disney character Winnie the Pooh shot on a blue background. Winnie the Pooh was originally created by English author A.A. Milne. Suffolk, Virginia, USA - April 21, 2011: A horizontal studio shot of the Disney character Winnie the Pooh shot on a blue background. Winnie the Pooh was originally created by English author A.A. Milne.Getty Images by [Joseph Hincks](/author/joseph-hincks/) ## Joseph Hincks Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 17, 2017 6:01 AM CUT **Correction appended July 17, 03:00 ET** No, that’s not a joke headline. Winnie the Pooh is arousing the wrath of socialist censors Beijing. And it’s not the first time he’s done it. Over the weekend, Chinese censors blocked users of WeChat and Weibo, China’s bigger-than-Twitter microblogging platform, from using the name of the most famous resident of the Hundred Acre Wood in the comment section of posts. Posts comparing Chinese president Xi Jinping to the cartoon bear — a longstanding joke in China — were also taken down. **Read more:** [_Chinese Authorities Crack Down on Streaming to Create a ‘Cleaner Cyberspace’_](http://time.com/4829771/china-censorship-weibo-streaming/ "undefined") Social media users first pointed out a comic likeness between Chinese Premier Xi Jinping and Disney’s rendering of A.A. Milne’s famous character in 2013\. To many, an image of the Xi walking beside U.S. President Barack Obama bore a resemblance to an image of Winne the Pooh walking beside Tigger. Another Pooh-Xi comparison became China’s most censored image of 2015 [according to](http://globalriskinsights.com/2016/03/china-blacklists-winnie-pooh/ "undefined") political consultancy _Global Risk Insights_. > [](https://twitter.com/faiselr/status/350586858989817857) Chinese social media users have long relied on euphemisms such as the Pooh-Xi joke to skirt the country’s strict censorship system. The latest Pooh ban appears to be part of a larger tightening of state control in the run up to this fall’s Communist Party Congress. Various virtual private networks, or VPNs — which can be used to access prohibited sites — [have also been banned](http://fortune.com/2017/07/03/china-vpn-internet-censorship-green/?xid=gn%5Feditorspicks "undefined"). **Correction:** _This story has been edited to reflect the fact that some images of Winnie the Pooh are still searchable on Chinese social media._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4860367/winnie-the-pooh-xi-china-obama-ban/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4860367/winnie-the-pooh-xi-china-obama-ban/"},"headline":"Winnie the Pooh Is in Trouble With the Chinese Authorities Once Again","datePublished":"2017-07-17T06:01:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:34:48.280Z","description":"Evidently, a cuddly bear is a threat to the world's next superpower","url":"https://time.com/4860367/winnie-the-pooh-xi-china-obama-ban/","keywords":["China","Censorship","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee8048c99cd88a1d/6988d5da4ee26271de30e29e/gettyimages-458565705.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joseph Hincks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/joseph-hincks/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltee8048c99cd88a1d/6988d5da4ee26271de30e29e/gettyimages-458565705.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Winnie the Pooh","caption":"Winnie the Pooh","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/china/","name":"China"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4860367/winnie-the-pooh-xi-china-obama-ban/","name":"Winnie the Pooh Is in Trouble With the Chinese Authorities Once Again"}}]}] ```