July 15, 2006
In Beijing, Wangfujing street is a prominent pedestrian promenade and has a large, multi-floored foreign language bookstore that attracts many people, including Leah and me. Most of the store's English language selection is similar to a tiny Borders with many popular books, but most importantly, it has a decent travel book section. While browsing through the section, I discovered post-publication editing.
Pages 50, 70 and 71 of each of the Lonely Planet Beijing City Guides have sticky thin white blocks, similar to mailing labels, obscuring the text. Also, on page 72 a thin strip was stuck over a joke that bikes are not allowed in Tiananmen Square, but tanks are okay! I was able to read this because, puzzlingly, the text under the tape was still legible. It's difficult to judge: was this inept censorship or a clever loophole? The blocks of white tape act like bookmarks, drawing the reader's eye, so, I had to read them all.
Earlier that morning, I had overheard a couple talking about the Lonely Planet (LP) China guide being banned, which I have a hard time believing. Not only can you buy the LP guides in Beijing, everywhere throughout the country, you can spot bedraggled tourists moving flat-footed, heads up, mouths gaping, thick LP books swinging in one hand with a finger carefully trapped at the appropriate section. Sadly, we're not excluded from this description.
-David
