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https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/apr/14/v-and-a-censored-catalogues-demands-chinese-printer>
"One of the UK’s leading museums has accepted demands by a Chinese firm that
publishes its catalogues to remove images that fall foul of the country’s
censorship laws.
The Victoria and Albert Museum has agreed to requests by the Chinese printing
company to delete maps and images from at least two recent exhibition
catalogues, according to documents released to the
Guardian after freedom of
information requests.
Like other prominent institutions, including the British Museum, Tate and the
British Library, the V&A often uses Chinese printers because they can produce
catalogues at half the cost of British or European companies.
But in doing so, they have to accede to censorship requests relating to any
topics or images deemed sensitive by the Chinese government, such as Buddhism,
Taiwan, Tibet, Tiananmen Square and pro-democracy activities.
The disclosures from the V&A lay bare the detailed scope of China’s censorship
on museum publishers. They show how Beijing’s red pen even extends to
historical maps and photographs on seemingly unrelated subjects such as Fabergé
eggs and British Black music.
They also show the apparent willingness of a publicly funded UK institution to
agree to Chinese suppression despite the problems it can cause in the
production process.
For the catalogue of the
Music is Black exhibition, which opens this Friday,
the V&A wanted to use a 1930s illustration of trade routes of the British
empire. But an email from the V&A’s Chinese printers sent last November said it
had fallen foul of Beijing’s censorship body, the General Administration of
Press and Publication or GAPP.
The email from the Chinese printers, C&C Offset Printing, said: “There is a map
on p10 relates to China (there is China border here and we need to use the
standard maps from Chinese Government) and GAPP rejected it. Our suggestion is
to delete this map or use another image.”
The V&A agreed despite bafflement at the decision. An internal email exchange
between V&A colleagues revealed the censorship had caused a delay in printing
the catalogue. It said: “It’s a historic map showing British colonial rule so
nothing to do with China – just shows China on the map and that seems to be
enough to warrant rejection! Printing paused while we amend files … SORRY.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
