Qingming: A Fitting Day to Mourn the Voices Made to 404

The Qingming Festival is the occasion for paying respects to the departed, honouring one’s ancestors, and sweeping graves. This year, Qingming falls on 4 April, which has, as it happens, 404‘d. That made us think of all the articles that have been 404 not found.

Last year, several Foodthink articles were “vanished” from our WeChat Official Account — more than in any previous year. Yet the ghosts of those pieces refuse to rest, drifting through every corner of the internet. Sometimes readers ask: where can we still find them? Inspired by that question, Foodthink decided to use this Qingming Festival to build a small cemetery for the “vanished”, a place where their spirits might return to rest.

Not every article met a tragic, heroic end. The reason each was made to vanish differed. For some, we knew even before publication that it had a limited lifespan — yet for every extra minute it survived, for every additional reader who found it, its mission was extended. Others never expected to disappear at all; we learned of it only once they had been taken down. And just like that — for having also touched the interests of certain companies, organisations, or even larger institutions — they were made to vanish all the more thoroughly.

Once an article has vanished, there is virtually no way to save it. This is a feature of the WeChat Official Account system as it stands: the possibility of lodging an appeal or opening a dialogue is slim to none, and no one knows who is shooting from the dark.

The shells of the articles may be gone, but their spirits still linger. Beneath each entry here, you will find a way to recover that “spirit”.

We dedicate this piece to the “vanished” articles of Foodthink.

– Articles Listed by Date of Disappearance –

404 Not Found I.

This article features an interview with a former Bianlifeng store manager, who recounts how, while working at Bianlifeng, she played a game against an algorithm so “absurdly stupid” that it was nonetheless heralded as one of the chain’s greatest strengths. The story also lays bare the values behind Bianlifeng — treating people as inefficient, prioritising obedience to the algorithm, and disregarding the insights and experience of frontline workers: replacing store managers with an algorithmic system; treating communication between staff and customers as a waste of time; and following system instructions to deliver a “good service experience” to consumers.

After the article was published, many readers remarked that the overall atmosphere it described was thoroughly “cyberpunk”, while some Bianlifeng customers reported that the robots in stores really did get in the way. As algorithms increasingly intrude into every corner of commerce and daily life, how can technology be put to work in creation rather than becoming a tool that oppresses and alienates workers? That is a question Foodthink has long sought to explore.

A camera patrol robot inside one of Bianlifeng’s stores, tasked with checking the shelf display. Staff are essentially unable to arrange products according to each store’s customer profile; if the robot photographs and determines that items are not in their prescribed positions, they must be corrected immediately.

The article was published in July 2024 and, in September, was reported and rendered inaccessible on grounds of involving a pending lawsuit or arbitration. Upon investigation, the interview subject was involved in no litigation or arbitration disputes whatsoever. The only possible explanation is that a non-core source — a media report quoted in the article — featured an interview with a franchisee who had a legal dispute with Bianlifeng, yet the content Foodthink cited appeared to carry no legal risk either. Setting aside whether that media report was in fact unlawful, when a corporation deploys its formidable legal team and budget to wield litigation as a weapon of silence against the press — even dragging uninvolved institutions into guilt by association — what is damaged is not only the interests of the media and the public but the credibility of the law itself.

Reason for disappearance: This content is temporarily inaccessible due to a pending lawsuit or arbitration dispute.

On the WeChat Official Account “食通社Foodthink”, reply with 【小蜜蜂】 to recover its spirit 🙏

404 Not Found II.

This article was published in October 2024 and deleted just two days later. It introduced Singapore’s Platform Workers Bill. From 1 January 2025, Singapore would improve social security coverage — spanning work injury, retirement, healthcare, and housing — for platform workers in industries such as food delivery, express delivery, and ride-hailing, while establishing a “Platform Work Association” to strengthen their collective bargaining power. At the time of publication, Foodthink considered Singapore’s Platform Workers Bill a landmark piece of legislation, offering valuable reference for China and other countries in addressing labour protections within the platform economy.

Yet in February of this year, Meituan and JD announced plans to pay social insurance contributions for some of their riders over the course of the year, promptly sparking discussion across all sectors.

We do not know whether, when this article was deleted, Meituan had already begun internally discussing paying social insurance for its riders. If the discussion was already underway, then why was the article removed? And if it was not, then when did Meituan decide to pay social insurance for riders? — I am afraid it was the moment JD announced it would do the same.

Meituan announced plans to begin implementation from the second quarter of 2025, gradually paying social insurance contributions for full-time and stable part-time riders.

Reason for disappearance: This content is inaccessible due to a policy violation. Following a related complaint, it was determined that this content violates the Regulations on the Administration of Internet User Public Account Information Services.

On the Foodthink WeChat Official Account, reply with 【丑团】 (“ugly clique”) to recover its spirit 🙏

404 Not Found III.

In June 2024, Foodthink interviewed Benedikt Haerlin, a pioneer of the International Anti-GMO Movement. He led campaigns for legislation on genetically modified (GM) crops at several organisations and has consistently been at the forefront of the push for sustainable agriculture. In 2024, regions across China began promoting the cultivation of GM crops. Through food industry processing, genetic modification has become an everyday reality each of us now faces. Yet the controversy surrounding GMOs has never died down. Foodthink believes that the discussion of GMOs should not remain superficial: it requires both a deep dive into technical details and regulatory processes and broad public participation in the debate. Benedikt Haerlin has witnessed the rise of genetic modification and the shattering of the myth built around this technology. Through this interview, we hope his observations will open new space for the discussion of GMOs in China.

“Save Our Seeds” advocates a zero-tolerance approach to GM contamination of seeds, supporting organic agriculture, biodiversity and food sovereignty. The photograph shows the 2022 Save Our Seeds initiative, which urged the EU to drive international legislation regulating gene editing; Benedikt Haerlin is on the far right. Image source: Save Our Seeds

The article was published on 23 December 2024, but was immediately restricted by the WeChat Official Account platform, meaning many readers never saw the notification. It then spread through Moments and group chats. On the 31st, the article was deleted. On 2 January, it was republished — and quickly deleted again the same day.

On the WeChat Official Account “食通社Foodthink”, reply with 【反转】 (“anti-GMO”) to recover its spirit 🙏

404 not found IV.

The article compiled the most memorable events and media works of 2024 centred on food delivery riders, including a rider in Hangzhou who was forced to his knees, and the “order king” who dropped dead on his e-bike; two films about food delivery riders with entirely different visions — Another Day Full of Hope and Against the Current — as well as two books on the subject, Digital Sprint: Food Delivery Riders and the Labour Order of the Platform Economy and Transitional Labour: Food Delivery Riders under the Platform Economy. Foodthink has long followed the digital technologies and capital behind food production and consumption, and their impact on both nature and people within the food system. The article was published on 6 January; ten days later, it was marked as a “violation” and rendered inaccessible on the WeChat Official Account.

On the Foodthink WeChat Official Account, reply with 【丑团】 (“ugly clique”) to recover its spirit 🙏

404 not found V.

The article was published in March 2025, documenting the plight of a farmer whose farmland was contaminated by scraps of plastic mulch film drifting from a neighbouring enterprise’s processing of corn stalks, only for the local ecological environment authority and the agriculture and rural affairs authority to deflect responsibility to each other, neither taking any action. Just one day after publication, the article was repeatedly reported to WeChat by the government departments involved; through our appeal, it was initially retained. But two days later, WeChat deleted it regardless, citing the grounds that “a complaint was received: the content violates the Regulations on the Administration of Internet User Public Account Information Services” — and Foodthink articles published on other platforms were subsequently taken down one by one.

As of this writing, the local ecological environment and agriculture and rural affairs authorities continue to cite unclear jurisdiction as their excuse and have taken no action against the enterprise in question. Perhaps because gathering plastic mulch film is time-consuming and labour-intensive, and soil remediation an even longer undertaking, but a few keystrokes and phone calls can take an article down — how quick, how easy, how economical! So it seems that, in the eyes of some, rather than solving the real problem, wouldn’t it be simpler to “solve” the person who raises it?

A government department filed a complaint with Zhihu alleging “suspected infringement of a company’s rights and interests”, and the article was subsequently deleted.

On the WeChat Official Account “食通社Foodthink”, reply with 【地膜】 (“plastic mulch film”) to recover its spirit 🙏

May fewer and fewer articles be made to vanish. May all silenced voices refuse to rest in peace — may they still be heard, still echo.

May you all be found. May none of you rest in peace. May all voices be heard.

We also welcome you to follow Foodthink on Douban, Xiaohongshu and Tencent News. There is always a path that leads back to us.

We would love to hear in the comments: which of the articles above left the deepest impression? And can you guess whether this very eulogy will become a spirit?

*This article’s cover image was created using an AI tool.

Produced by: Kairui

Edited by: Tianle

404 Not Found I.

404 Not Found II.

404 Not Found III.

404 not found IV.

404 not found V.

Published by Foodthink