遊行 (parade or demonstration/march / yóuxíng) is a gathering of people, usually organized along a street. Parades are generally celebratory processions, while demonstration is often used to describe more political public meetings.
Why it is blocked: 遊行 is just one of many terms to describe public gatherings of people, but it is one of the few still blocked (a labor strike, 罢工 / bàgōng, is another) likely because it is often connected with the 1989 Tiananmen demonstrations. However, a more common variant of the word, 游行 (notice the missing strokes on left and bottom of the first character), has always been unblocked. 抗议 (kàngyì), the general word for “protest” has never been blocked, while 示威 (shìwēi), a common word for demonstrations, was blocked but has since been unblocked. One can compare the nuances in usage by examining Google or Baidu image searches of each term:
- 抗议 (protest): top results for both are of small groups of Western protesters, usually nude
- 示威 (demonstration): Baidu=similar to protest; Google=more violent images, larger gatherings, and a few Chinese news report stills
- 遊行 (blocked version of “march”): Baidu=happy Chinese parade-goers and floats; Google=a mix of political and celebratory demonstrations and gathering
- 游行 (unblocked version of “march”): Baidu=same as previous; Google=roughly the same as previous
- 巡遊/游 (parade): Baidu=images of parade floats; Google=a mix of parade floats and parade-goers
- 罢工 (strike [blocked on Weibo]): Baidu=violent images, including some Chinese ones; Google=less violent, but larger gatherings than the Baidu ones
