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Mimi Lau

Jun Mai

Cambridge University Press (CUP) has blocked online access to certain journal articles in China at the government’s request, as Beijing reins in academic freedom.
The articles and book reviews were published in China Quarterly, one of the leading journals on Chinese studies.
China holds drill to shut down ‘harmful’ websites
Their removal was revealed when an email purportedly written by its editor, Tim Pringle of the University of London, was posted on Twitter this week.
Pringle states in the undated email to the journal’s editorial board that more than 300 sensitive articles had been pulled at the recent request of China’s General Administration of Press and Publication, saying CUP blocked the material to avoid having the site shut down.
“Most articles and reviews included in the list are about Tiananmen, the Cultural Revolution, Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan etc, and they range from material published in the last months right back to the 1960s,” the email said.
It also said that a similar request had been made a few months ago concerning more than a thousand e-books published by CUP. It was not clear whether the publisher had also complied with this request.
Chinese writers steer path round censors to earn cash through apps
This latest example shows the broad scope of Chinese censorship, with universities under increasingly tight ideological control since President Xi Jinping called for them to ensure orthodox Marxism dominates the minds of academics and students.
In the past, China’s top universities have often been at the forefront of social and political change. Students from Peking University were prominent in the pro-democracy movement and protests at Tiananmen Square in 1989, but now most Chinese students are unaware of this history.
Ethnic tensions in Xinjiang and Tibet as well as the democracy campaign in Hong Kong have also been sensitive topics in recent years.

CUP – the world’s oldest publisher, founded in 1534 – confirmed that journal content had been removed from the website in China, saying it complied with “an initial request to remove individual articles to ensure other academic and educational materials we publish remain available to researchers and educators in this market”.
China’s Xi Jinping wants both academic excellence and tighter grip on campuses. Go figure
“Freedom of thought and expression underpin what we as publishers believe in, yet Cambridge University Press and all international publishers face the challenge of censorship,” according to the CUP statement, adding that censorship in China was a long-term issue. “There are many things we can’t control but we will continue to take every opportunity to influence this agenda.”
It said other publishers “have had entire collections of content blocked in China until they have enabled the import agencies to block access to individual articles”.
CUP also said it was “troubled by the recent increase in requests of this nature” and it planned to meet the relevant agencies at the Beijing International Book Fair next week to discuss its position.

An employee of US-based LexisNexis said its service had been shut down in mainland China since March because it refused to comply with similar requests from the authorities to protect the integrity of its global database. Now, mainland Chinese users must use a virtual private network to access academic journals on LexisNexis.
“We can’t just mess up our database because of an individual nation’s requests,” the staff member, who is based in Hong Kong, said.
Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London, where China Quarterly is based, said censorship of the journal is “disappointing and regrettable” and that “it is the only China-focused journal that is subjected to such treatment, at least up to now”.
The General Administration of Press and Publication could not be reached for comment.
Additional reporting by Jun Mai


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Censorship in China

Cambridge University Press pulls sensitive journal articles in China at the request of Beijing

“All international publishers face the challenge of censorship,” CUP said in a statement. Photo: Handout

epa01785623 People belonging to the Chinese Uyghur Moslem minority protest in Urumqi, China, 07 July 2009. Authoroties said at least 140 people were killed and over 800 injured when Muslim Uighurs rioted in its restive Xinjiang region in some of the deadliest ethnic unrest to have hit the country for decades. The violence in the regional capital Urumqi on July 5 involved thousands of people, and triggered an enormous security crackdown across Xinjiang where tensions have long simmered amid Uighur claims of repressive Chinese rule. EPA/OLIVER WEIKEN

--ONE TIME USE ONLY--- Handout image provided by Arthur Tsang Hin-wah, and taken in Beijing in 1989, shows the student demonstration in Tiananmen Square, China. [02JUNE2017 FEATURES] CREDIT / Arthur TSANG

China’s Xi Jinping wants both academic excellence and tighter grip on campuses. Go figure

China's President Xi Jinping spoke last week on the issue of teaching in universities. Photo: Reuters

China holds drill to shut down 'harmful' websites

The censorship drill was conducted ahead of the Communist Party’s Congress later this year. Photo: Reuters

VPN access in China

In this Aug. 16, 2016 photo, an attendee takes a photo of a visualization of global internet attacks during the 4th China Internet Security Conference (ISC) in Beijing. A Chinese technology regulator has announced Sunday, Jan. 23, 2017, a year-long campaign to root out services that allow people in the country to circumvent the government's Internet censorship. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Chinese writers steer path round censors to earn cash through apps

Qiao Mu, pictured at his desk at his home in Beijing, where he now makes a living from essays posted on WeChat. Photo: AFP

*** ONE TIME USE ONLY *** A mobile phone user displays the messaging app Weixin, or WeChat, of Tencent on his smartphone in Jinan city, east China's Shandong province, 8 February 2015. Photo Imaginechina

Manya Koetse, Managing editor, writer & founder of "What’s on Weibo". SCMP Pictures (UNDATED HANDOUT)

In this image taken from Jan 6, 2008, video footage by AP Video, Liu Xiaobo looks at documents in his home in Beijing, China. According to a statement Friday, July 7, 2017, on the website of the First Hospital of China Medical University, the Chinese medical team charged with treating imprisoned Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo has stopped using cancer-fighting drugs so as not to overwhelm his severely weakened liver, raising concerns that China's most prominent political prisoner is critically ill. (AP Video via AP)

This photo taken on July 21, 2017 shows writer and former professor Qiao Mu posing for a photo at his home in Beijing. When outspoken professor Qiao Mu posted his resignation letter on a popular Chinese messaging app, sympathetic readers tapped their phone screens to send him money, leaving him with a 20,000 yuan (3,000 USD) payday. China's widely-used applications have given writers like Qiao an outlet to self-publish and make money -- as long as their words respect the boundaries set by online censors inside China's "Great Firewall". / AFP PHOTO / GREG BAKER

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Publisher says it blocked content on subjects including Tiananmen, the Cultural Revolution, Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan


Cambridge University Press pulls sensitive journal articles in China at the request of Beijing

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Publisher says it blocked content on subjects including Tiananmen, the Cultural Revolution, Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan

Publisher says it blocked content on subjects including Tiananmen, the Cultural Revolution, Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan