The China Quarterly

History

Main article: Congress for Cultural Freedom

The China Quarterly began as an offshoot of Soviet Survey, a journal published by the Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF). In 1959, Walter Laqueur, the editor of Soviet Survey, asked sinologist Roderick MacFarquhar to edit the new journal, the first issue of which was released in 1960. The publisher was transferred in 1968 from CCF to the Contemporary China Institute at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies.

The transfer followed the revelation that CCF was funded by the Central Intelligence Agency through the Farfield Foundation. MacFarquhar stated he was unaware of the relationship and his editorship was not influenced by CCF. However, he admitted to knowingly publishing articles provided by the CIA and the British Foreign Office's covert propaganda unit, the Information Research Department, and giving the authors pseudonyms to keep their identities secret. David Wilson succeeded MacFarquhar as editor in 1968.

Its current editors are Timothy Hildebrandt (LSE), Jieyu Liu (SOAS), and Tim Pringle (SOAS).

Controversies

In August 2017, Cambridge University Press (CUP), the publisher, confirmed that it had removed access to over 300 articles from readers in China following pressure from Chinese government. CUP subsequently reversed its decision and restored the articles, stating that the move was meant to avoid having their entire publication blocked. The press published a list of articles removed, including sensitive topics such as human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Tibet, the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, pro-democracy movements in Hong Kong, and the negative effects of the Cultural Revolution.

Several academics criticised CUP's self-censorship, while CUP stated that it was "troubled by the recent increase in requests of this nature" and was committed to academic freedom. The Guardian reported the censorship was part of a broader crackdown on dissent since Xi Jinping became the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012.

Abstracting and indexing

This journal is indexed by the following services: Social Sciences Citation Index, Current Contents/Social & Behavioral Sciences, Essential Science Indicators, International Bibliography of Periodical Literature, and International Bibliography of Book Reviews of Scholarly Literature.

References

References

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7. MacFarquhar, Roderick. (1995). "The Founding of The China Quarterly". The China Quarterly.
8. (2017-08-22). "'China Quarterly' Publisher Restores Articles Following Backlash From Scholars". National Public Radio.
9. (11 May 2004). "The T iananmen Papers Revisited". www.cambridge.org.
10. (2017-08-19). "Cambridge University Press accused of 'selling its soul' over Chinese censorship". The Guardian.
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