Aaron and I went to the largest foreign language bookstore in beijing yesterday to pick up a copy of a Lonely Planet or Rough Guide to China since we're going out of town next week. We didn't bother to bring one to China with us, since we assumed we could just buy one here. We stood looking at the rows and rows of Lonely Planets and Rough Guides for every country. China was not under "C". We figured they must have set up a special display. We found a lot of nice picture books on china, some travel stories, some maps, but no travel guides. Finally, I asked a worker. She replied "Mei you" (we don't have). I tried to ask, you don't have them now or you never have them? she just shook her head and smiled a little--i began to wonder if this was a sensitive subject. After talking to two other teachers we work with and asking to borrow their Lonely Planet, our suspicions proved correct. Apparently all of the L.P.'s and Rough Guides on China have been removed from bookstores, and a friend of our friends even had his confiscated when he was carrying it around in public. I wonder what information the books give that the authorities don't like? My guess is that, in their extensive coverage of the realities of china--both the good and bad--, they mention things that contradict the shiny, squeeky-clean image that China has been trying to show to the world around the Olympics. After spending more than an hour in China though, or after walking any but the most touristed streets, I don't see how anyone could really believe that the China they portray actually exists.
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