The Financial Times (March 14) disclosed that two British publishers, Octopus Books, part of
literary empire Hachette, and London-listed Quarto, have censored books intended for western
readers to ensure they can be printed cheaply in China and removed references to Taiwan and
other subjects banned by Chinese authorities from several books. It said that in 2017, academic
publishers Springer Nature and Cambridge University Press were criticised after it emerged,
they had each blocked hundreds of articles from being accessed in China. The Financial Times
said since 2020 Octopus, a self-described “leading publisher of non-fiction”, has removed
references in at least two books to Taiwan. In one case, an entire section relating to Taiwan
was cut. Over the same period Quarto, a picture book publisher that in 2020 released the New
York Times bestseller This Book is Anti-Racist, erased mentions of Hong Kong and dissident
artist Ai Weiwei from separate publications. The nationality of people mentioned in one book
was also changed from Taiwanese to East Asian, while references to Tibet, annexed by China
in 1951, were revised in two books to suggest it was Chinese territory.
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