Chinese political magazine Yanhuang Chunqiu forced to call off annual dinner
Yanhuang Chunqiu says authorities barred it from hosting dinner for party veterans
Embattled political magazine Yanhuang Chunqiu suffered another blow this week when it was forced to cancel its annual dinner for the first time in its 23-year history, prompting concerns the authorities are keeping up their pressure on the publication that has been a voice for party liberals.
A statement initially posted on its microblog apologised to editorial board members and writers for the cancellation, saying the authorities had prohibited it from hosting the dinner.
The statement said the magazine originally invited 240 supporters to attend the March 11 event, but its supervisory organisation, the Chinese National Academy of Arts, relayed a message from "the relevant authorities", suggesting it postpone the dinner until after the National People's Congress annual meeting, which ended last Sunday.
It said the publication then postponed the dinner to March 18 and cut those invited to 130, but the restaurant then said it was barred from hosting the event. The magazine asked the academy to negotiate with the authorities to allow the dinner to go ahead, but its request was rejected on Tuesday, a day before the scheduled event.
The statement appeared to have been deleted from the microblog on Thursday.
Yang Jisheng, deputy publisher of the magazine, confirmed its contents, saying he was unclear which government department barred the event.