MCLC: Beijing tightens censorship of HK/Taiwan writers

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Beijing tightens censorship of HK/Taiwan writers
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Source: SCMP (1/22/14):
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1410713/beijing-tightens-censorship-
books-hong-kong-and-taiwan-authors

Beijing tightens censorship of books by Hong Kong and Taiwan authors
By Oliver Chou

Tougher rules for all HK and Taiwan authors to weed out 'vulgar' and
'harmful' content

Beijing has tightened controls on book publishers and ordered publications
by authors from Hong Kong and Taiwan to go through a stricter approval
process.

The directive was sent to all chief editors of major Chinese publishers in
early December and came with immediate effect.

The move was to weed out content deemed "vulgar" or "politically harmful"
by the authorities, sources familiar with the situation said. The
tightening was never publicized.

It was first brought to public attention after several fung shui masters
in Hong Kong complained this month that they could not get their books of
predictions for the Year of the Horse registered for publication on the
mainland.

The sources said the restriction was not limited to fung shui books -
regarded by the atheist Communist Party as superstitious and vulgar.

"The order doesn't just target fortune-telling and fung shui books but all
books by Hong Kong and Taiwan authors," a Beijing source said.
A publishing source confirmed they received the order last month and had
stopped publishing fortune-telling books.

"Tens of thousands of corruption cases are being reported in the official
media every day. And there is also an unsettling development regarding
Japan and the United States and their policies toward China. All these add
to the nervousness of the authorities and so they tighten control," the
source said.

While Hong Kong and Taiwan books are being particularly targeted, mainland
publications also have to go through tighter vetting procedures now.

The source cited the example of a story on Bo Guagua - younger son of
disgraced Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai - that was run recently as the
cover story of Life Weekly by the Beijing Joint Publisher. It reported on
Bo Guagua's colourful life in Britain but otherwise contained little
sensitive information. Still, it was banned on the internet soon after
publication.

The source said the new policy did not apply to translated foreign books.
"We do not know how long the policy will last. We just have to allow extra
time for official vetting in our publication planning," the source said.

Additional reporting by Zhang Hong and Lawrence Chung