Time Out Beijing has been published for the last three and a half years without a problem (two years earlier the Chinese Rolling Stone was closed less than a month after publication for the same problem), and it is said to be one of the country's best-known and most popular English language magazines.
However, in light of a statement from a Time Out Beijing spokesman ('"It is not convenient to say" why the June edition had been banned') it would appear that this wasn't the squashing of a counterfeit title but the gagging of the real thing.
So, it seems fairly clear that, given that it has been banned, this is all part of a massive effort by the administration to step up security as the Olympics approaches. The impact this will have is hardly likely to affect security either way, but it will make it harder for visitors - Olympic and otherwise - to know where to go for food, drink and a general good time. Perhaps this kind of frivolous behaviour by Westerners is what's getting up the nose of the authorities? More seriously, will the GAPP relent once the Olympics is over, or is this the end for Time Out Beijing?
In what seems almost like a political point being made, the link to the online edition of the magazine loads the complete set of pages... with every one of them blank. See http://www.timeoutcn.com/Magazine/TimeOut_0806_English/default.htm
NOTE: the content now appears, so the blank pages may have been a technical glitch. Was this just a hiccup that got blown out of all proportion, or has Time Out effected some kind of deal with China's GAPP?
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