Hilary Rodham Clinton’s recently released memoir, Hard Choices, has been banned by Chinese publishing companies due to its in-depth content about Chinese officials.
Jonathan Karp, president of Clinton’s publishing company Simon and Schuster, discussed in an interview that though the Chinese companies have yet to release any formal statements justifying their refusal to purchase and distribute the book, it is clear that they fear the government will shut down their businesses.
Karp deemed the ban “outrageous and unfortunate,” and a “clear indication of the level of intellectual freedom in China right now,” reported Buzzfeed.
In 2003, Clinton’s first book, Living History, was heavily edited by the Chinese government before hitting the shelves in China. Mentions of the Tiananmen Square protests were omitted and several other revisions were made, unapproved by Clinton and her team.
According to Gu Aibin, in charge of the government-run publishing company that took on Living History, much of the content was “not suitable,” as reported by the New York Times. Simon and Schuster halted the distribution of the altered memoir.
Despite its absence from Chinese book stores, Hard Choices remains a best-seller in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, India and Canada.