Tsering Dhundup
DHARAMSHALA, Oct 30: The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has escalated its campaign against “illicit reading” among party officials, with at least 15 cadres facing punishment in 2024 for possessing or reading banned books.
According to Singapore based news outlet, The Straits Times, the crackdown comes as China grapples with economic challenges, including its slowest growth in over a year at 4.6% in the third quarter of 2024. Experts suggest the intensified monitoring of officials’ reading habits reflects the leadership’s broader efforts to maintain political stability during economic uncertainty. In 2023 around eight party officials were punished for reading and possessing books banned in china.
In a recent case, Li Bin, former vice-director of the People’s Congress in Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang province, was disciplined in late September 2024. The consequences for such violations are severe, typically resulting in expulsion from the CPC and effective end of political careers. Some cases, like that of former Zhejiang vice-governor Zhu Congjiu, have led to criminal investigations.
While the CCP does not publish an official list of banned materials, prohibited content typically includes works discussing sensitive topics such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, the Cultural Revolution, books on Tibet, East Turkestan or insider accounts about party leaders. New regulations implemented in 2024 have imposed harsher penalties for private consumption of such materials.
The crackdown has extended beyond officials to affect bookstores. Shanghai’s Jifeng Bookstore, despite only selling state-approved books, was forced to close in 2018 after facing increasing pressure over hosting public discussions on topics deemed sensitive. Its owner, Yu Miao, has since relocated to Washington DC, where he opened JF Books in September 2024. At the opening of the bookstore Yu stated to the media, “It’s quite ironic that Jifeng Bookstore cannot survive in China and has to find a second life in the US, where such public discussion is a normal state of life. In some ways, it’s heart breaking.”
