Controversial Book on Ming Dynasty's Downfall Pulled from Shelves in China Amidst Censorship and Comparisons to President Xi

 A book that attributed the end of the Ming dynasty to the ineptitude of a Chinese emperor has been pulled from shelves in China. The book, titled "Chongzhen: The Diligent Emperor of a Fallen Dynasty," was recalled by its publisher due to printing problems. Screenshots of comments comparing the emperor to Chinese President Xi Jinping have also been censored online. The censorship is likely due to online parallels drawn between the emperor's rule and perceived governance mistakes by Xi. Chinese readers shared images of the book cover on social media, with critical words about the emperor.

The book is currently unavailable online, and searches for the title on social media platforms yield no results. Additionally, the name of the author, Chen Wutong, has been censored on social media. China heavily censors content that is not compliant with its policies or critical of its leaders. This includes obscuring phrases critical of China's recent zero Covid policies in a book about Elon Musk, as well as scrubbing images of Winnie the Pooh, which were seen as a meme mocking Xi Jinping.