BEIJING — The censorship order handed down from the Chinese Communist Party earlier this year reads like a decree from a Puritan: depictions of underage drinking, gambling and extreme violence are not permitted online; images of scantily clad people and portrayals of homosexuality are off limits; spiritual figures and beliefs cannot be satirized.

The directive, aimed at China’s booming online entertainment industry, prompted uncommon outrage for the number of topics — 68 — it banned. The list includes not only the usual politically sensitive subjects but also subjects that have made the internet an exhilarating and liberating space for this country’s hundreds of millions of web users.

The priggishness of Communist Party censors is not new, but the escalation of puritanical policing in the past year reflects wider forces shaping Chinese society under President Xi Jinping. Following Mr. Xi’s high-profile crackdown on corrupt officials and thorough silencing of liberal intellectuals, the president’s most ambitious project with the wider public is underway: an attempt to govern not only citizens’ political outlook but, more than any leader since Mao, also the minutiae of their moral life.

Some of Mr. Xi’s measures build on existing tools of control: The official state news agency issued an update to its style guide in July, banning the use of crude language and online slang in news reporting; internet censors shut down scores of blogs in June for their sensationalist coverage of celebrity gossip; other information channels, including school textbooks and street billboards, promote traditional virtues like honesty, obedience and filial piety, which are hailed as the foundation of a good society.