7:36 pm HKT Oct 13, 2014
A man reads a book while practicing tai chi. Rumors that a ban on some authors has boosted their sales in China. Reuters
Having a book banned in China is often a marketing coup for publishers selling copies abroad. In the age of social media, this dynamic appears to be playing out on the mainland as well.
Unconfirmed rumors began circulating over the weekend that China’s media regulator has banned the publication and sale of books by some mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwanese authors known to be critical of China. Booklovers responded by going online to castigate regulators, and at least one retailer moved to take advantage of the publicity by running a promotion on the supposedly soon-to-be-scarce books.
The allegedly blacklisted writers include prominent liberal economist Mao Yushi, newspaper columnist Xu Zhiyuan, Chinese-American historian Yu Ying-shih and well-known media personality Leung Man-tao.
“These days, smothering someone is as good as crowning that person—previously unnoticed but now many people are interested in his views and works,” one user wrote on Weibo, referring to the rumored ban. “A ‘smothering’ order is a reading list.”
Feeding the rumors was a widely circulated photo that purported to show a request to retailers from the Shanghai People’s Publishing House to halt sales of one of Mr. Yu’s books, “Scholar-Officials and Chinese Culture.” Staff at the Shanghai People’s Publishing House and one other publisher confirmed to China Real Time that they had received verbal orders to cease publishing the book in question.
The staff also said they had received orders not to publish any new books by Mr. Leung. A marketing-department official at the Shanghai People’s Publishing House declined to comment, saying, “it’s not convenient for me to talk about this.”
The General Administration of Press, Publications, Radio, Film and Television — China’s media regulator — didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Two major bookstores in Beijing, however, said they had received no orders relating to any of the authors and were continuing to sell the books they had in stock. Mr. Xu, one of the allegedly blacklisted authors, told China Real Time he had only seen the rumors online and didn’t know whether his books were banned.
Regardless whether a ban was actually in force, some enterprising booksellers are already hoping to cash in. Chinese online retailer Dangdang.com set up a special promotional page on its website offering discounts on works by Messrs. Mao, Xu, Yu and Leung.
“Reading tastes differ among people, but some books—even if one doesn’t read them—must be collected,” a message on the promotional page said. “Word is you soon won’t be able to buy these books.”
Mr. Mao, the economist, went on Weibo to slam the alleged ban. “I’ve heard from various sources that the publishing authorities have banned books by some scholars,” he wrote. “Just what is our government trying to do? It makes people suspicious. How can a government that doesn’t have the faith of the people govern well?”
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