Taiwan scholars win legal case after papers censored for China
Taiwan scholars win legal case after papers censored for China
2025-08-20
After years of legal proceedings, a puzzling case of academic censorship motivated by China has finally come to a settlement. Taiwan’s largest private academic database, Airiti Library was found to be censoring its own content in order to expand in the Chinese market. The unauthorized alterations sparked outrage in the academic community, especially among the authors whose works were altered. The case has finally reached a conclusion, with an apology from the database and NT$150,000 in compensation, which the authors have pledged to donate to charity. Let’s hear from them.
Wu Wei-ting
SHU Associate Professor (Plaintiff)
In our article, we mentioned state feminism, which is an academic term. But the Airiti Library changed it to “Taiwan feminism,” a term they made up and which makes no sense in the article. Chinese scholars have cited our work to mock us, because “Taiwan feminism” as a concept doesn’t exist.
Chiu Hua-mei
NSYSU Associate Professor (Plaintiff)
In my paper, every instance of the word “state” was replaced with “Taiwan.” It completely distorted the meaning of my article. So, if you wanted to use my article, you’d be getting the wrong information.
Fan Yun
Lawmaker (DPP)
The outcome of the lawsuit is a reminder to Airity and the general public, that Chinese censorship and the belittling of Taiwan’s sovereignty is unacceptable.
In one instance, the phrase "four countries" was changed to "four Taiwans." And, an author named Pi Kuo-li was left with just his surname Pi, as Kuo-li also means "national" in mandarin. The attorney who represented the plaintiffs says that the case highlights the risks of subjecting academic work to Chinese censorship. It’s also a warning for researchers engaging with China to be vigilant about protecting the integrity of their work.
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#academic #academiccensorship #censorship #national
又矮化台! 華藝資料庫授權中國"紅色審查" 我學者論文遭竄改
2025-08-20
又是個矮化台灣的案例。國內最大的民營資料庫「華藝資料庫」，4年前被揭發為了拓展中國市場，授權中國公司審查導致論文被竄改，引發學界震怒。經過四年多的官司，華藝和提告學者終於達成和解，華藝發出公開聲明道歉並賠償15萬元，學者決定捐作公益。
[[世新大學副教授(原告) 伍維婷]]
“我們的文章寫的是國家女性主義，這是一個專有名詞，在華藝資料庫平台上面，變成了台灣女性主義，台灣女性主義是一個無中生有莫名其妙的(字眼) ，事實上中國學者的引用，會把我們當成笑話式的引用，因為根本沒有台灣女性主義這個詞彙”
[[中山大學副教授(原告) 邱花妹]]
“它把我內文裡面的國家，全部的置換掉，置換為台灣，那使得文章的內容，意思原意也遭到嚴重的扭曲，這也意味著只要去使用這個論文的，你都沒有辦法得到正確的知識內容”
[[立委(民) 范雲]]
“這個結果的意義，是要提醒華藝，各界，紅色審查，矮化台灣主權的行徑，沒有辦法被接受”
四個”國家”被改為四個”台灣”，不只國家二字被竄改，還有作者名叫「皮國立」，國立也被消失，只剩下一個皮字。代理律師蔡晴羽表示，這起訴訟彰顯學術成果面臨跨境審查的風險，也提醒研究者在與中國交流時須謹慎，確保著作完整性與學術自由。
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