'World Book' In China

By Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 6/1/2007

Readers of the new Chinese version of World Book Encyclopedia are in for some major changes. For one, it makes no mention of the 1989 government crackdown in Tiananmen Square, and it says Taiwan isn’t a country, but a province of China.

The 20-volume edition, which was officially unveiled in Beijing on May 16, states that “Taiwan is a part of the People’s Republic of China” and “has been a part of China since the ancient times,” according to a translation of the text provided by World Book officials.

That’s a departure from the English version, which portrays the island as a sovereign nation, both in its text and graphics. “When you look at the map of Taiwan in [the English-language] World Book, the symbol that’s used for Taipei is the symbol we use for other capitals of nations,” says World Book’s Editor-in-Chief Paul Kobasa.

While the English-language World Book doesn’t have stand-alone articles on the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, it is mentioned in two separate articles. “In 1989, the Chinese government brutally disbanded a large, peaceful assembly of students and other citizens in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square,” reads the English World Book. In another passage it says, “The military crushed the demonstrations and killed hundreds of protesters.”

But the historical event is omitted from the Chinese version, says Kobasa. “And we understand from Chinese contacts that this is consistent with current government policy.”

The publisher’s of World Book, the first American encyclopedia to license its rights in China, was concerned about censorship, but it decided to eventually go ahead. “The feeling was that some encyclopedia is going to be translated into Chinese,” Kobasa adds. “And while the product may be somewhat different from what we might have done, what we might have done might never have gotten published.”