7:36 pm HKT Oct 13, 2014
A man reads a book while practicing tai chi. Rumors that a ban on some authors has boosted their sales in China. Reuters
Having a book banned in China is often a marketing coup for publishers selling copies abroad. In the age of social media, this dynamic appears to be playing out on the mainland as well.
Unconfirmed rumors began circulating over the weekend that China’s media regulator has banned the publication and sale of books by some mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwanese authors known to be critical of China. Booklovers responded by going online to castigate regulators, and at least one retailer moved to take advantage of the publicity by running a promotion on the supposedly soon-to-be-scarce books.
The allegedly blacklisted writers include prominent liberal economist Mao Yushi, newspaper columnist Xu Zhiyuan, Chinese-American historian Yu Ying-shih and well-known media personality Leung Man-tao.
“These days, smothering someone is as good as crowning that person—previously unnoticed but now many people are interested in his views and works,” one user wrote on Weibo, referring to the rumored ban. “A ‘smothering’ order is a reading list.”