US writers’ group warns Western authors of Chinese censorship

A US-based advocacy group is warning Western authors to be vigilant of censorship of their work in China’s fast-growing book publishing industry, which is sometimes done without their knowledge.

A report on Wednesday from the PEN American Centre said translated versions of foreign books may be excised because of political sensitivities on topics like Taiwan, Tibet and the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on democracy protesters. References to sexually explicit material and gay and lesbian issues are also frowned upon.

The report intends to draw attention to how pervasive Chinese censorship could affect writers outside the country as China takes an increasingly prominent place in the global publishing industry. China will be the regional focus of this year’s BookExpo America in New York next week, with a delegation of hundreds of state writers and publishers.

China is one of the largest book publishing markets in the world, with total revenue projected to exceed US$16 billion in 2015 and an annual growth rate of roughly 10 per cent per, according to the report. Chinese publishers acquired 16,115 foreign titles in 2012, up 60 per cent from 2004. American and British books are the most popular.

The report says that in many instances, foreign authors and their agents and publishers do not have sufficient knowledge of the workings of Chinese censorship to ensure books aren’t censored.

Many have signed contracts that promise the preservation of the author’s original content but leave the translation to the Chinese publisher and fail to vet the resulting copy. Other authors consent to some censorship, reasoning that even in diluted form, getting new ideas into China will help the cause of free expression.