Travelers in China have long reported difficulties finding and holding onto Lonely Planet guidebooks for the communist country. Now, China’s ministry of foreign affairs has confirmed the banning of the LP guide over what it deems controversial content.
The content in question is the treatment of Taiwan on maps: LP marks Taiwan as separate from mainland China, which is a breach of Chinese law. China’s sensitivity over the political status of Taiwan is an international issue; CNN reports that “China has repeatedly threatened to use military power against the island if it declares independence and has staged a series of naval exercises off the coast of Taiwan.”
LP general manager Tony McKimmie stated that the company would not alter their maps to conform with Chinese authorities. He told Australian news service The Age that LP “would maintain absolute editorial integrity; we wouldn’t change any content.”
Instead, the Lonely Planet website suggests that travelers “should consider putting a cover on the book to make it less recognizable and just to be safe, copy down any crucial details you might need while in the country.”
Travelers could also just use a different guidebook, since Frommer’s, Rough Guides, and DK Eyewitness Travel Guides have not reported any confiscations. The Age also noted that no travel guide has been banned “for its treatment of other controversial issues such as the Tiananmen Square massacre, Cultural Revolution, Tibet or persistent human rights abuses… [The] Chinese Government [is] so far more concerned with maps than the written word.”
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