US, Chinese Authors Stage Protest at New York Book Expo Against Chinese Book Fair and Censorship Policies

Chinese and American authors stormed a major U.S. book fair in New York on Wednesday with protests, alleging the Expo has ignored China’s censorship and intimidation of writers. The protesters were led by authors Jonathan Franzen, Xiaolu Guo, Andrew Solomon and Ha Jin while others stood outside the main New York Public Library. They demanded that China release the detained Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo and professor Ilham Tohti and remove the curbs on writers, allow free speech and maintain freedom of expression. The protest was organised by PEN American Center. The protesting volunteers also distributed fliers entitled "Governments Make Bad Editors.”

However, in the book fair, China's publishing delegation kept its cool with focus on their presentations such as "Book Launch for The China Dream." China has purchased more than 20,000 square feet of the convention floor for featuring its books ranging from the sayings of Mao Zedong to the “Important Speeches Made By Secretary-General Xi Jinping."

Book Expo's Defense

The protesters said the China delegation that came to the book expo were "hand-picked by the Chinese government." The BookExpo is the publishing industry's annual trade show, which said it has high regard for China’s significant market that is critical to the industry.

Ruediger Wischenbart, director of international affairs, BookExpo America reiterated that it is “important for them to have a seat at the table and engage in a cultural and commercial exchange that could have a positive impact on the future of publishing both at home and across the globe." The protesting authors took group photos of the crowd holding placards of "free expression" in English and Chinese. They are planning to send the pictures to China via virtual private network services that can jump the Great Firewall and reach out to the cyber communities.

Follow Chinese Law

Refuting allegations of censorship, Chinese Embassy spokesman Zhu Haiquan said the Chinese government is committed to protect its citizens' right of freedom to publish. However, that freedom must “abide by the Chinese law.” The PEN American Center had alleged that many books were expurgated by Chinese censors without taking the authors’ consent and urged authors looking to publish their works in the lucrative Chinese market to be vigilant.

Meanwhile, an incident involving a letter from Chinese students demanding the trial of those responsible for Tiananmen massacre was released by the official media and is causing embarrassment and calling for a censorship within. “We are writing you this open letter, fellow college students inside China, to share the truth with you and to expose crimes that have been perpetrated up to this day in connection with the Tiananmen Massacre in 1989,” the students wrote.

Reacting to the letter in the official mouthpiece “Global Times” the thinkers of the ruling elite made charges of conspiracy in a hysterical rejoinder to the letter in the editorial. The same was widely reposted across the Internet by state-run media. Now the official assessment is that such a hasty reaction gave the students’ letter undue attention than it deserved. The letter was also posted as a Google Form, allowing readers to add their names to the list of signatories, thereby vastly increasing the letter’s reach. Now the official effort is to auto sensor its own editorial that played up the letter, reported Quartz News.

(For feedback/comments, contact the writer at k.kumar@ibtimes.com.au)