People's Daily Publishes 2005 Censorship Numbers

November 6, 2006

The People's Daily published an article on March 25 that called for deepening the government’s Sweep Away Pornography and Strike Down Illegal Publications campaign and to "further regulate the publication market environment." The article also reported that the government confiscated 169 million illegal publications in 2005.

The People's Daily published an article on March 25 that called for deepening the government’s Sweep Away Pornography and Strike Down Illegal Publications campaign and to "further regulate the publication market environment." The article also reported that the government confiscated 169 million illegal publications in 2005, including:

  • 996,000 "political illegal publications;" and
  • 4,620,000 Falun Gong and "other evil cult organization propaganda materials."

The report also said that the government had canceled the registration of 202 news bureaus since 2003 and also shut down 73 illegally established news bureaus.

Liu Binjie, Deputy Director of the General Administration of Press and Publication and Deputy Chief of the Sweep Away Pornography and Strike Down Illegal Publications Task Force, previously announced that political publications are the highest priority target for the Task Force. As the CECC has previously noted, Chinese authorities deem "illegal" and confiscate hundreds of thousands of publications each year because of their political and religious content.