Monthly Archives: February 2019

Worrying news from China

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Nibweb member Anne Rooney reports that an article in the Bookseller  of 25 February warns of 8-week delays as the Chinese government insists on checking anything with any maps in of anywhere in the world, any date, whether or not for sale in China; clampdowns on content including nudity, religion and anything politically sensitive. The article includes the following passage:

‘A letter sent out in November by one Chinese printing firm warned publishers of tightened regulations on maps, nudity and topics such as religion, war, rebellions and recreational drugs. Clients whose work falls into those categories were urged to send over files well in advance so they could be examined internally by the printers first, to see if they were suitable.

‘The company was warned it could be placed under “close supervision” or have its licence revoked if authorities found it had applied to print “improper” material three times in a year. The printing firm also claimed Chinese officials had threatened to look at books published overseas and trace who the printer was to check the content had been through the proper approval process.’

Anne points out that children’s non-fiction writers are already aware of,  and frustrated by, restrictions on what they write that are placed on them by international markets, but this seems to take the problem into a whole new realm.