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Media regulation
Yazhou Zhoukan shut out of the mainland?Posted by Joel Martinsen, December 27, 2007 5:23 PM
![]() Yazhou Zhoukan Has Yazhou Zhoukan (亚洲周刊, aka "Asia Weekly") been banned? The newsweekly, published out of Hong Kong by Ming Pao and the Tom Group, has been available by subscription to qualified individuals and businesses on the mainland (the qualification being a foreign passport). But subscribers have been informed that it's not on the list of available magazines for 2008. Han Yonghong reports for Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao:
Yazhou Zhoukan just named the Chinese day trader as its Person of the Year. Update: Ming Pao, Yazhou Zhoukan's sister newspaper, reported on 28 December that the magazine's editorial offices confirmed the rumor: "Chen Qingyuan said that they had been informed by their Hong Kong agent, but that the other party did not provide a reason. He thinks that one should not conclude that the mainland has tightened controls on freedom of the press purely because subscriptions to Yazhou Zhoukan have been banned." Ming Pao link (subscription required; text available on HKMetroTown BBS). Links and Sources
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Comments on Yazhou Zhoukan shut out of the mainland?
If you press hard for an offical explanation for the ban, Chinese officials will probably cite the need to protect local publications, such as the 21st Century Business Herald, as an excuse. This explanation is not entirely wrong; it just doesn't reflect the whole truth. From what I understand, progressive Chinese magazine, such as the previously banned 21st Century Global Herald, have persistently argued for more editorial freedom in order to compete with HK and overseas magazines for readership. So I tend to interpret the ban of the popular Asia Weekly as an official response to this request for press freedom.
Regarding the motives for the alleged ban on subscriptions to "Yazhou Zhoukan, " I think opinions expressed in the article itself and by Catherine are off the mark.
First of all, the magazine cannot be sold in newspaper kiosks in China. I would be surprised if there are more than a few thousand subscribers, max. This means that, banned or not, readership is already quite restricted.
Nor is "Yazhou Zhoukan" what I would call international media. While it does have loyal readers in southeast Asia, for instance, it is published in Hong Kong in Chinese, the writing/editing staff are Chinese, and the topics are clearly those of interest to persons who consider themselves Chinese.
In my opinion, if subscriptions are no longer accepted -- which would effectively ban the magazine in China -- I would put it down to these factors:
--- The magazine regularly features stories on politics in Taiwan. It reports in a colorful and well-informed manner on politicians and political developments there, indirectly highlighting Taiwan's position as a democratic segment of Chinese society. This is something that neither mainland nor so-called "international" publications (i.e., English-language magazines that offer infrequent and superficial coverage of Taiwan) do. China's media controllers obviously are not keen to have such an independent voice freely available on the mainland.
--- The editor-in-chief, Yau Lop Poon, is a patriotic but liberal-minded intellectual who was educated in Taiwan and the US. The magazine's editorial stance clearly shows his preference for multiple voices, rational debate and a tolerance for diversity among Chinese of different intellectual and political viewpoints. Such a preference may be highly valued in Hong Kong, Taiwan and the world at large, but it is viewed with suspicion by conservative media apparatchiks in mainland China.
Bruce Humes
xumushi@yahoo.com