The following censorship instructions, issued to the media by government authorities, have been leaked and distributed online. The name of the issuing body has been omitted to protect the source.
All websites are to delete the article “22 Village Libraries Built by Peking University Graduate Continue to Be Forced to Stop Operations.” The media absolutely must not report on the closing of China Rural Library libraries. (September 18, 2014)
全网查删《北大毕业生建设22座乡村图书馆陆续被叫停》一文。媒体对于立人图书馆被关闭一事一律不做报道。 [Original Text]
The non-profit China Rural Library (CRL) will suspend operation of its 11 village libraries, located across China to serve children and educators. (The article headline appears to misrepresent the number of schools.) One library in Xiaojia, Chongqing was shut down in May, and another five suspended operation last month. From the South China Morning Post:
CRL’s management did not explain the reasons behind the shutdowns, but in a hint that it was forced said “none of its libraries are voluntarily closed for mismanagement reasons”, according to its Weibo.
CRL’s account on e-commerce site Taobao.com, in which people were able to purchase books and donate to the libraries, were also suspended.
Separately, Tang Shuangfei, manager of the Lu Zuofu centre, said in a lengthy post that the Xiaojia library was accused by local authorities of “circulating religious books” and that among those officials confiscated during an inspection was a book on Christianity written by German political economist Max Weber. [Source]
CRL has issued a statement [Chinese] citing intense pressure since 2011 to shutter libraries in Xi’an, Chongqing, Hubei, and Shanxi: