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by Zan Aizong Boxun reports that on Tuesday February 10 the Yangcheng (Guangdong) Evening News published an article criticizing the General Administration of Press and Publication's (GAPP) new "title-based book number application system" for issuing book licenses (ISBN numbers). The article criticized the new system as increasing the monopolistic control of the state over book publishing, exacerbating an already unhealthy situation. This article was reprinted on Guangzhou's popular 21cn.net, Golden Ram Net and in many other venues. But it was quickly removed and search engines showed no record of it ever having existed. This type of blanket censorship results from the order of higher authorities, either the General Administration of Press and Publication or State Council Information Office. This type of blanket censorship and the state's monopoly on book publishing licenses in general should be ended. Regarding the new "title-based book number application system," in the past, state-owned publishers applied to GAPP for ISBNs, which they then assigned to the books they published. No one else was able to obtain ISBNs from GAPP, creating an unhealthy book publishing monopoly. And because many publishers received more ISBNs than they needed, a black market emerged with state publishers selling book numbers to the highest bidders, usually private companies. Although commonplace, this practice was illegal. The new system, which went into effect at the start of 2009, issues book numbers on a per-title basis, eliminating the surplus ISBNs that could be sold off to unlicensed cultural companies. In Guangdong approximately 100 domestic publishers started using GAPP's new "title-based book number application system" network when it was launched on January 8. However, because of bugs in GAPP's network, Guangdong publishers have yet to be issued a single title-based book number for 2009. The Guangdong Administration of Press and Publication is working with Beijing to resolve this problem so that by the end of February or the beginning of March it can start issuing this year's numbers. Full Chinese report at: http://www.peacehall.com/news/gb/china/2009/02/200902260211.shtml © Copyright 2009 by Boxun News Top of Page |
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