China censors 'RIP' and the candle emoji as people mourn Nobel Peace Prize winner

Shortly after Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo's death was announced, China's biggest social network has started censoring a host of words -- and even emoji -- typically used in mourning posts.

Users on Weibo found on Friday that they couldn't search for the candle emoji, as well as keywords like RIP.

Liu, a well-known human rights activist and dissident, passed away on Thursday after battling liver cancer. He was serving an 11-year sentence in a Chinese prison, and was granted medical parole only in June, diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer.

In the wake of his death, China's government-influenced social media platforms have banned searches for his name, "Nobel," the word "candle," as well as "I have no enemies" -- an essay Liu had prepared for his trial in 2009, that he wasn't allowed to read.

Searches for these terms returned Weibo's canned censorship message: "According to relevant laws and policies, the results you searched for cannot be displayed."

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Our attempts to post a candle emoji also resulted in an error message.

Both Weiboscope and Free Weibo, which log deleted posts on Weibo, reported multiple posts with the candle emoji deleted:

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

"😭 😭 😭 🕯🕯🕯 He was a brave man in our time. History will remember him, be it in life or in death.

Posts that simply had the crying emoji were also censored, such as this one:

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Meanwhile, state-run newspapers ran the announcement of Liu's death in brief, matter-of-fact posts.

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Censors cut international reports of the human rights activist's death:

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Chinese users have taken to Western channels to express their grief and remember Liu by.

Some shared artwork found on Twitter and Instagram on Weibo:

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"As the world watches, he died. I've no political view on this, but people can't live without such dignity. R.I.P. #freedom"

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Liu was detained in 2008 for his involvement in drafting a democracy manifesto, and convicted the year after.

When his diagnosis was made public recently, Western voices asked for his transfer overseas for treatment, which China rejected. He was transferred from prison to a Shenyang hospital under heavy security, in his final days.

Human rights activists are now pushing for the Communist government to release Liu's wife, poet Liu Xia, who has been held under house arrest in Beijing since 2010.

Liu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, defended the country on Friday from criticism over Liu's treatment. He added: "Conferring the [Nobel] prize to such a person goes against the purposes of this award

"It's a blasphemy of the Peace Prize."