The Victoria and Albert Museum accepted demands by a Chinese firm that publishes its catalogues to remove images that contravene China’s censorship laws.
Emails from the Chinese printers to the museum show their concern regarding a map of China, which the V&A wanted to use to illustrate the trade routes of the British Empire for a forthcoming exhibition.
According to the documents, which were released to the Guardian following Freedom of Information requests, the museum agreed with the request to delete the map, along with images for a second exhibition catalogue.
The V&A holds a large collection of Chinese art and, like many institutions such as the Tate, the British Museum and the British Library, often uses Chinese printers because of the lower costs.
This does mean, however, that they accede to censorship requests relating to any topics sensitive to the Chinese government, such as Taiwan, Tibet, Tiananmen Square and pro-democracy activities, despite problems it can cause in their production process.
The V&A wanted to use a 1930s illustration of trade routes of the British empire for the catalogue of the Music is Black exhibition, opening this Friday.
However an email from the Chinese printers, C&C Offset Printing, sent last November said that it had fallen foul of Beijing’s censorship body, the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP).
The email said: “There is a map on p10 relates to China (there is China border here and we need to use the standard maps from Chinese Government) and GAPP rejected it. Our suggestion is to delete this map or use another image.”
The emails disclosed show that the V&A agreed to the request despite confusion among staff, with the censorship causing a delay in printing the catalogue.
One staff member wrote to a colleague: “It’s a historic map showing British colonial rule so nothing to do with China – just shows China on the map and that seems to be enough to warrant rejection! Printing paused while we amend files … SORRY.”
Another email to Gus Casely-Hayford, the director of V&A East, said it was too late to find alternative printers.
It read: “We were aware of sensitivity around contemporary maps but it now clearly applies to historic maps too. As we have ordered the paper to the printer it is sadly too late to move print to Europe, so we’ve had to put back the schedule a week in order to find a replacement illustration.”
Casely-Hayford replied suggesting replacing the censored map with a Dennis Moore photograph, and the museum eventually used a photograph of people arriving in Southampton on a liner after a voyage from the West Indies instead.
The V&A also pulled a photograph of former Soviet Union leader Vladimir Lenin from a catalogue for the 2021 exhibition Fabergé: Romance to Revolution, with the Chinese printers saying it could be deemed “sensitive” by GAPP.
An email from the V&A production team read: “The Chinese printer is not able to print the book with the revolution/Lenin image at the start of your essay. I should have foreseen this, but the list of restrictions is ever changing.”
The V&A said in a statement that the changes were “minor”, adding: “We carefully consider, on a case-by-case basis, where we print all of our books. We sometimes print in China, but maintain close editorial oversight.
“We were comfortable making minor edits, as they did not affect the narrative and we would obviously pull production if we felt any requested change was problematic.”
The British Museum did not answer the Guardian’s questions regarding how it dealt with any China censorship requests, with a spokesperson saying: “We work with a range of printers across Europe and Asia. Print orders are placed with suppliers based on a number of factors including quality, availability of materials, schedules and cost.”
“We won’t be commenting any further on the matter,” they added.
The British Library said it hadn’t had any issues with censorship on the catalogues it had printed in China, and a Tate spokesperson said they had never changed the content of any books at the request of a printer.
A former employee of C&C Offset Printing said: “Of course printing content disapproved by Chinese government is forbidden. Why should it be surprising? It’s a Chinese company.”
