{"id":6389,"date":"2016-01-16T05:16:40","date_gmt":"2016-01-16T10:16:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/?p=6389"},"modified":"2016-01-17T05:27:06","modified_gmt":"2016-01-17T10:27:06","slug":"book-on-chinese-president-pulled-as-fears-grow-for-missing-hong-kong-publishers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/book-on-chinese-president-pulled-as-fears-grow-for-missing-hong-kong-publishers","title":{"rendered":"Book on Chinese president pulled as fears grow for missing Hong Kong publishers"},"content":{"rendered":"

US-based writer Yu Jie says publication of Xi Jinping\u2019s Nightmare was halted as the industry \u2018wants to stay out of trouble\u2019 after five booksellers have vanished<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Yu<\/a>

Chinese dissident author Yu Jie. Photograph: Jewel Samad\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n

The author of a book which criticises Chinese president Xi Jinping has said its publication has been suspended in Hong Kong, because its publisher was fearful of the \u201chuge consequences\u201d of its release, following the mysterious disappearance of five of the city\u2019s publishers in recent months.<\/p>\n

Writing in Apple Daily [in a piece translated by Hong Kong Free Press], the US-based Chinese dissident writer Yu Jie said he had finished his critique of Xi\u2019s regime, Xi Jinping\u2019s Nightmare, in November 2015, and that his publisher, Open, had been due to start printing it on 1 January.<\/p>\n

Related: Hong Kong bookshops pull politically sensitive titles after publishers vanish<\/p>\n

But Yu wrote that he received an email from his publisher\u2019s chief editor Jin Zhong, who had previously published another book, China\u2019s Godfather, Xi Jinping, by the author, informing him that publication of the new book would not be going ahead. Jin wrote: \u201cthe difficulty of publishing political books in Hong Kong is already in the international spotlight [with] people in the industry \u2026 feeling great fear and pressure; they want to stay out of trouble so that they won\u2019t be the next one [to disappear].\u201d<\/p>\n

Five publishers and booksellers linked to Sage Communications, a firm known for publishing books criticising the Chinese government, have mysteriously gone missing in Hong Kong and Thailand in recent months, most recently UK citizen Lee Bo. The International Publishers Association has expressed its \u201cdeep concern\u201d about the situation, with president Richard Charkin urging the Chinese authorities \u201cto assist in locating them and allowing for their safe return home\u201d, adding: \u201cThese disappearances immediately raise dire questions about the Chinese government\u2019s commitment to freedom to publish.\u201d<\/p>\n

UK foreign secretary Philip Hammond said last week that he had \u201curgently inquired both of [the] Hong Kong authorities and of the mainland Chinese authorities what, if anything, they know\u201d of British passport-holder Lee Bo\u2019s whereabouts.<\/p>\n

Related: Creeping censorship in Hong Kong: how China controls sale of sensitive books<\/p>\n

China has repeatedly denied knowledge of the disappearances, despite growing suspicions that its security forces were involved.<\/p>\n

As a major Singapore bookselling chain announced it would stop stocking politically sensitive books in its Hong Kong stores, Jin wrote to Yu that he had received many calls from friends and family trying to persuade him not to publish Xi Jinping\u2019s Nightmare. \u201cBecause of that, we decided after much deliberation to suspend the publication of your work,\u201d wrote Jin, adding that he was \u201cdeeply sorry\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI sincerely ask for your understanding. We published China\u2019s Godfather, Xi Jinping, but circumstances have changed, and I am not able to face the huge consequences,\u201d said Jin.<\/p>\n

According to Hong Kong Free Press, Yu said that he had contacted other Hong Kong publishers about taking on the title, but none wanted to publish it. The book will now be released in Taiwan, which Yu called the \u201clast lighthouse of publishing freedom for ethnic Chinese society\u201d, in February.<\/p>\n

Source: http:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/books\/2016\/jan\/14\/xi-jinpings-nightmare-book-china-pulled-missing-hong-kong-publishers<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US-based writer Yu Jie says publication … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,167],"tags":[1473,37,90,1475,1474,89,103,1472],"views":5052,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6389"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6389"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6392,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6389\/revisions\/6392"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}