mlkj24

Travellers heading to Beijing for the Olympic Games may want to reconsider taking a guidebook. The Chinese Government has banned Lonely Planet's popular China Travel Guide over what it deems controversial content.

為了參加奧運而到北京的遊客可能要考慮帶別本旅遊書。中國政府已經查禁了
Lonely Planet's popular China Travel Guide，因為裡面有被官方認定爭議的內容。

After repeated reports of confiscations from travellers, China's ministry of foreign affairs confirmed that the guide was banned last year because of a map that depicts the People's Republic of China and Taiwan as separate countries.

在遊客發生了幾次的沒收事件後，中國的外交部確認了這本書已經在去年被查禁的事實。因為裡面的地圖把中華人民共和國跟台灣分開標示。

A spokesman said the book has some errors concerning the Taiwan issue, such as marking the Chinese mainland and Chinese Taiwan in different colours (on the map). These practices breach Chinese law.

一位發言人說這本書有在台灣議題上有一些錯誤的地方，像是把中國大陸跟中國台灣標成不同的顏色（在地圖上）。這違反了中國的法律。

The political status of Taiwan is a hotly contested international issue, with China viewing it as a renegade province, denying that the island has any sovereignty and advocating reunification with the mainland.

台灣的政治地位是個爭議性超大的國際議題，中國視她為叛亂的一省，否認那個島擁有任何的主權，以及非常想把她跟大陸再度統一。

Lonely Planet general manager Tony McKimmie said the company was unaware of the ban although it had received about 30 reports of confiscations in the past 18 months.

Lonely Planet總經理Tony McKimmie說他們公司雖然在過去十八個月接到約莫30這樣的案例，但
無視於這個禁令。

"There has been noise around it for several years but we've never had anything officially from the Chinese Government," McKimmie said.

McKimmie說，雖然幾年來一直有一些雜音，不過我們從未接到中國官方的任何訊息。

The confiscations, mostly reported at remote land borders, led Lonely Planet to post a warning on its website and suggest travellers disguise the book or make a copy of important details.

大多發生在邊界的這些沒收事件，讓Lonely Planet在它的網頁上建議遊客把書藏好，或是將一些重要的細節影印下來。

Muddying the issue is the fact that the China guidebook is often available but not displayed in government-run bookshops, with buyers having to request the title and sometimes even present a passport.

事實上這個議題正在打迷糊仗，這本中國旅遊書在中國政府經營的書店通常買得到但是不會展示出來，買的人要自己說出書名，有時候甚至還要出示護照。

"You get an understanding from that behaviour that there are issues around the book," McKimmie said.

「你從這些行為中了解到這本書裡有一些議題」，McKimmie說。

The government spokesman could not confirm whether the ban applied to other guidebooks with similar maps although no confiscations or bans have been reported to Frommer's, Rough Guides or DK Eyewitness Travel Guides.

雖然在Frommer's、Rough Guides或是DK Eyewitness Travel Guides的旅遊書還沒被宣佈查禁或沒收，但政府發言人並沒有說這個行動是否會蔓延到其他有類似地圖的旅遊書。

Nor has any travel guide been banned for its treatment of other controversial issues such as the Tiananmen Square massacre, Cultural Revolution, Tibet or persistent human rights abuses, with the Chinese Government so far more concerned with maps than the written word.

目前尚未有旅遊書因為天安門事件、文化大革命、西藏或是迫害人權等爭議議題而被查禁，中國政府現在對於地圖顯然比文字更在意。

Publishers deny they would ever change the content of their guidebooks, regardless of whether the ban is continued or extended.

出版家們否認他們會在旅遊書的內容做任何的改變，即使這波禁令會持續或擴大。

"We would maintain absolute editorial integrity; we wouldn't change any content," McKimmie said.

「我們會保持編著的完整性；我們不會改變任何內容」McKimmie說。

Michael Spring, the US vice-president of Frommer's, said: "All Frommer's has to offer the public is the credibility of its information and we never have, and never will, compromise that credibility for any special interest."

美國Frommer's的副總Michael Spring說，「所有Frommer’s的書都需要提供正確的資料給大眾，而且我們現在不會，未來也不會為了某些利益去改變這些正確性。」

原始網址
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/11/15/1194766854001.html