BEIJING—A group of prominent journalists is demanding the resignation of a senior propaganda official in southern China who they say unjustifiably censored an editorial.

Dai Zhiyong, a commentator for Southern Weekly, wrote a New Year's editorial that picked up on a catchphrase used in recent weeks by China's new leader Xi Jinping—the "China Dream"—to advocate greater checks on government powers and for more personal freedoms. The piece was headlined "China's dream, the dream of constitutionalism."

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