Beijing tightens censorship of books by Hong Kong and Taiwan authors
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 publicised.
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.