Knowledge Suppression and Resilience under Censorship: Three-century Book Publications in China (w. Ying Bai and Jiaojiao Yang)
Abstract
This study examines the short-, medium-, and long-term impacts of state censorship on knowledge production, focusing on the largest book-banning campaign in Chinese history, initiated during the compilation of the Siku Quanshu (Complete Library in Four Sections) between 1772and 1783. Analyzing publication data from over 161,000 books spanning the 1660s to the 1940s, we find that categories subjected to stricter censorship experienced significant declines in publication during the seven decades following the bans (1770s–1830s). However, beginning in the 1840s, political upheavals and the erosion of state control triggered a resurgence of publications in previously restricted categories. This pattern of suppression and recovery extends to ideas, as evidenced by keyword analysis of book titles. Further analysis highlights the central role of chilling effects in driving these dynamics, with the exit and entry of publishers playing a crucial role in both the suppression and subsequent revival of knowledge production.
About this workshop
The Public Governance workshop is an online seminar series focused on state of art research in political economy that uses non-traditional data and data-intensive methods.
The workshop gives a platform for the research on the role of governance in designing and developing better policies. Key features are the political environment, the role of the media, the engagement of stakeholders such as civil society and firms, the market structure and level of competition, and the independence of public regulators, among others. Particular emphasis is placed on research with NLP methods due to the proven usefulness of transforming text into data for further econometric analysis.
Periodicity: Mondays from 17h30 to 19h.