Township Authorities Ban Magazine

August 1, 2005

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on June 22 that officials in a Zhejiang province township had banned the sale of the May edition of Rural Youth magazine because of an article criticizing local officials.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported on June 22 that officials in a Zhejiang province township had banned the sale of the May edition of Rural Youth magazine because of an article criticizing local officials. According to RFA, the Sun newspaper of Hong Kong reported that Rural Youth's May edition included an article entitled "Treasuring the Land that We Rely Upon for our Existence" that revealed how officials in Shangyu municipality's Lihai township abused their authority to give away and sell state-owned land at low prices to commercial developers. Following the magazine's publication, no copies were available from magazine vendors, and a Shangyu government official said that subscribers did not receive their copies.

This incident is the second time in as many months that a report has surfaced about local officials censoring critical news reports. In June 2005, the Southern Daily reported that someone removed pages from its sister publication, the Southern Metropolitan Daily, that were distributed in the Da Gang township. The removed pages included an article that reported about people from Long Gu village in Da Gang petitioning for the return of land requisitioned by the township's real estate development company.