Victoria & Albert Museum Alters Publications Under Chinese Censorship Pressure

The Victoria & Albert Museum in London removed a 1930s map of British Empire trade routes from the 'Music Is Black' exhibition catalogue after its Chinese printer, C&C Offset Printing, flagged rejection by China's General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP). The map included Chinese territory and borders, triggering censorship rules requiring state-approved maps. Internal emails reveal evolving restrictions, with the museum also deleting a map and a Vladimir Lenin photograph from the 2021 'Fabergé: Romance to Revolution' catalogue. The institution replaced the 'Music Is Black' map with a photo of Caribbean migrants arriving in Southampton, insisting changes were minor and did not alter scholarly content. British museums like the British Museum, Tate, and British Library use Chinese printers for cost savings, subjecting publications to GAPP oversight on sensitive topics such as Tibet, Taiwan, Tian'anmen, and Hong Kong democracy movements. A similar case involved the 'Gengis Khan' exhibition in Nantes, where China's National Heritage Bureau in 2020 demanded removal of terms like 'Genghis Khan' and 'empire', leading the Musée d'histoire to cancel the original project; a revised exhibition opened in 2023 with partners including the Genghis Khan Museum in Mongolia. The Guardian's investigation on April 20, 2026, uncovered these practices.