The Tibet Express / By Lobsang Tenchoe
DHARAMSALA, July 19: One of the most liberal monthly journals of China was compelled to stop its publication following an abrupt forced reshuffle of its management.
To suppress voices that disagree with the ruling Communist Party, President Xi Jinping’s latest drive of extensive crackdown on dissent and civil society, has forced Yanhuang Chunqiu (or China Through the Ages) magazine to cease its publication.
The magazine was founded by reform-minded party veterans in 1991 and the announcement of the end of its publication came just days after the Chinese National Academy of Arts revealed it had sacked the magazines publisher, Du Daozheng, 92, and demoted its Chief Editor, Xu Qingquan, reports South China Morning Post, July 19.
Photo of Du Daozheng.
According to a Reuters.com report on July 19, in a statement dated Sunday and circulated online, Du said the magazine would stop publishing, and accused the academy of violating freedom of publication and of sending people to force their way into the newsroom and seize control of the website.
“It is the only magazine that speaks the truth and the party had clearly decided it had had enough of the magazine,” the magazine’s lawyer, Mo Shaoping, was quoted as saying in the same report.
The journal with a monthly circulation of about 200,000 is known for its articles defying party views on sensitive issues, such as political reform and the Cultural Revolution.
It is backed by various retired senior party and government officials but came under pressure from the authorities in recent years to soften its editorial stance.
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