China rewrites history with new censorship drive

Whitewashing of archives part of wider ideological crackdown by Xi Jinping 
By Ben Bland in Hong Kong

First it put the squeeze on ideologically impure academics.
Then it tried to censor foreign publishers such as Cambridge University Press.
Now Xi Jinping’s government is intensifying its drive to rewrite Chinese history by amending the archival record itself.
New research by a legal scholar reveals that Chinese authorities have been taking advantage of the digitalisation of historical documents by systematically deleting Chinese journal articles from the 1950s that challenge the orthodoxy promoted by Xi.
Glenn Tiffert, a research fellow at the University of Michigan, found that two of China’s main online databases for scholarly articles had removed dozens of articles that questioned the Communist party’s commitment to the rule of law at the time. 
Academics say his findings are significant because many scholars in China and beyond rely on these online databases and the removal of such seemingly obscure material supports the belief that the regime is conducting a much deeper rewriting of history. 
“In the past if someone wanted to censor, they had to go to the bookshelves and remove copies or pages but today, with a few keystrokes, you can wipe out content everywhere instantaneously,” said Mr Tiffert.
“The result is that anyone who does research will come away misinformed or with a distorted view.” 
The two databases in question did not respond to requests for comment.
Cambridge University Press, the world’s oldest publisher, was recently asked by Chinese censors to block access to hundreds of academic articles by some of the world’s leading Sinologists. LexisNexis, which runs a database of historical news cuttings from the world’s main media companies, withdrew some of its products from the China market in March after authorities asked it to remove some stories about China.
Mr Tiffert said that digitalisation has become an enabling tool for authoritarian regimes such as China, which has taken the lesson from the collapse of the Soviet Union that Communist governments “may not survive critical scrutiny”. 
Zhang Lifan, a Beijing-based historian who has been blocked from using social media because of his criticisms of Mao Zedong, argues that the drive to curb critical historical research and block access to or alter archives will backfire.
“If government officials don’t know the real history, it will lead to stupid decisions and stupid policies,” he said.
But, in the meantime, life is getting more difficult for Chinese academics, many of whom are subject to ideological monitoring in class and banned from talking to foreign media.
“Many of those who teach the real history have been sacked or punished,” said Mr Zhang.
“No one dares to do research on social movements and most spend their time researching Xi’s ideas and Marxism-Leninism.”
Although the Communist party has always tried to keep a tight grip on the historical narrative, Zhang Qianfan, a professor of constitutional law at Peking University, said it was getting worse, making “society and particularly the younger generations more ignorant about modern history”.
The case of Cambridge University Press, which initially complied with the censors’ requests for fear of losing access to the lucrative Chinese market, also highlights how the Communist party is attempting to export its political control, with some success. 
“Given how many cash-strapped universities are looking to attract Chinese money and Chinese students, I would not touch research on sensitive subjects like Xinjiang, Tibet or human rights now, in terms of career prospects or my ability to get visas for China,” said one leading China academic at a European university, who did not want to be named.