"The Chinese word for crisis is made up of two characters: One stands for 'danger,' the other 'opportunity,'" says New York publisher Nicholas Callaway. He learned this the hard way in August, when three titles on his first fall book list - including The Clinton Years: The Photographs of Robert McNeely - were seized from their printer in China by customs officials. The crime? In The Clinton Years, this image of the president's 1994 meeting with the Dalai Lama precedes a shot taken in 1997 with China's leader, Jiang Zemin, who still lays claim to Tibet. While Callaway scrambled to find a way to reprint the book fast - including looking at presses in Hong Kong - he posted the White House photo at www.callaway.com, reminding the Chinese that the Great Firewall ain't as sturdy as it used to be.
But the danger's not over. "In the short term, it could hurt our business," says Jeremy Ross, the book's editor. "In the long run, it's a potential disaster for China as it establishes its role in the global economy." Perhaps Beijing has forgotten how quickly opportunity can turn into crisis.
ELECTRIC WORD
Photo Op
Monkeyshrines
King Of The Heap
Packet Switcher
Terminal Bliss
Spring Training
