China Bars Publication of Unapproved Works : Crackdown on Literary Freedom Aims at Books, Magazines, Particularly Popular ‘Cheap Fiction’

In a major new crackdown on literary freedom, China has outlawed the publication of all books, magazines and newspapers that are published without official government approval.

The ban was adopted by three Chinese government ministries on Friday and made public over the weekend. It requires all publishers to register with the government and gives authorities the power to confiscate the books or magazines of those who fail to register. In addition, publishers or printing firms involved in putting out unauthorized material can be fined and have their income confiscated.

On Sunday, Chinese newspapers published a speech on ideology and culture by Hu Qili, the relatively young Politburo member now being groomed by Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping as a future Communist Party general secretary. Hu complained that “there are still some low-level, vulgar, obscene and poisonous works being produced.”

The new controls on publications reflect a pronounced shift in attitude on the part of the Chinese regime since the time, barely a year ago, when it seemed to be advocating a cultural liberalization. During a much-heralded speech to the Chinese Writers Assn. at the end of 1984, Hu said that the Chinese Communist Party wanted to provide the conditions and environment for “freedom of creation.”

In 1979, when underground magazines with political themes began appearing in China, the regime closed them down and, in some instances, sent the editors and writers to prison. Over the last year, there has been a spate of political demonstrations in China, but so far as is known, no new underground political journals have taken hold here.

Rather, the immediate target of the new stricture on publications appears to be China’s increasingly popular “yellow press.” Over the last year, prompted in part by the regime’s market-oriented economic reforms, publishers have been flooding the market with tabloids, magazines and books that feature stories about sex, romance, crime, kung fu and other martial arts.

The official New China News Agency said recently that authorities intend to “crack down on cheap fiction published purely for profit, which contaminates people’s minds.”

The success of the populist tabloids has produced a severe shortage of paper and newsprint in China. The new publications have also apparently begun to divert the interest of some Chinese readers from the official, party-controlled papers and magazines.

Early this month, postal officials reported that subscriptions in Peking for the official Communist Party organ People’s Daily have dropped by 8.6% over the past year. They said that subscriptions to Liberation Army Daily have declined by 9% in Peking since a year ago and that demand for national magazines such as the party theoretical journal Red Flag is also declining.

Since the economic reforms were announced in October, 1984, some Chinese publishing units have been turning out popular magazines and tabloids to earn money to offset the cost of their more weighty but less profitable literary or political journals.

For example, one editor, a veteran critic who warns against allowing too many decadent foreign influences in China, has been selling a movie magazine with pictures of Brooke Shields and other foreign film stars to help subsidize his literary journal.

The new publishing controls were adopted by China’s Culture Ministry, Finance Ministry and State Administration for Industry and Commerce.

On a number of occasions over the past year, law enforcement officials in various Chinese cities have raided newsstands and seized copies of specific tabloids, magazines or newspapers judged to be “obscene” or otherwise offensive.

Powers to Confiscate

Under the new regulations, which are nationwide in scope, authorities do not have to find any particular book or magazine to be offensive. Instead, they are given broad power to confiscate all materials brought out by a publishing enterprise that fails to register with the government.

Even when publishers register with the authorities, the rules require them to get approval for particular books and to abide by limits on the number of copies that can be produced. Those who fail to do so can be fined and have their earnings seized.

A new constitution adopted in 1982 says broadly that the 1 billion citizens of the People’s Republic of China “enjoy freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of procession and of demonstration.”

But an essay last month in the publication Chinese Legal System warned that “a small number of people” have misinterpreted freedom of speech as meaning “to air what is in one’s mind at will.”

The article said a line should be drawn “between ordinary talk and criminal talk.” Criminal talk, it said, is that which is “injurious to society. . . . Such harm to society is expressed as sabotage of the ruling order of the proletariat and injurious to the interests of the state and the people.”