China’s government censors have banned from shelves the June issue of Time Out Beijing‘s English addition, a valuable entertainment and nightlife guide, according to this article from the Times. While we have reason to doubt that Beijing’s live music venues will be allowed to operate normally in the coming months, Time Out‘s pulled plug means that foreigners will find it difficult to learn about what limited concerts are taking place in the capital for the forseeable future. The Times’ Jane McCartney reports that:
The ostensible reason given by the General Administration of Press and Publications for pulping the June issue was that the magazine lacked a proper licence. But Time Out Beijing has published ever since its launch without completing the proper paperwork and this had never raised eyebrows among the censors who were well aware of one of the most prominent of the tiny number of English-language publications in the capital… But magazine insiders said that they thought it unlikely that an edition would be available until after the Olympics as nervous censors move to reassert control over all publications before an expected flood of foreign visitors for the Games opening on August 8.
It’s not uncommon for unlicensed publications to be shut down by the government; two years ago, the Chinese edition of Rolling Stone was closed down within weeks of its inaugural issue’s publication. What is unusual about the Time Out Beijing closure is that, while it was initially published as an insert in its properly licensed Chinese sister publication, it has been published as a stand-alone magazine for the past four years. When reached for comment by the Times, an official at the Press and Publications Administration said, “If there is such a magazine, it wasn’t approved by us in the first place.”