Seven don't mentions

A political cartoon depicting the seven don't mentions and the Statue of Liberty. (@badiucao)

七不讲 (qī bù jiǎng): seven don’t mentions

Seven politically sensitive topics that the government has prohibited university professors and lecturers from discussing with students. The phrase “seven don’t mentions” originated in a directive allegedly issued by the General Office of the Party Central Committee to institutes of higher education in May 2013. The directive, which was leaked on Weibo and subsequently censored, outlined seven topics that were forbidden to be raised with students: universal values, press freedom, civil society, civic rights, historical mistakes by the Communist Party, elite cronyism, and an independent judiciary.

Journalist Gao Yu also stated [Chinese] that the seven don’t mentions were distilled from a longer official document that also called for the promotion of Xi Jinping’s “Chinese Dream” and the spirit of the National People’s Congress.

The Party government has sought to contain dissent in institutes of higher education; student movements, such as the 1989 protests, have historically been major sources of unrest.