中国上海当局禁止继续报道张东岳案

陈敏涉嫌谋杀张东岳一案在上海引起了一阵风浪，但上海当局宣传部门日前已经紧急下令，停止对此案的报道，等候进一步的通知。

Cecilia Zhang case taboo in Shanghai
Newspapers told not to carry reports
Blackout follows flurry of coverage

MARTIN REGG COHN
ASIA BUREAU

HONG KONG—On Monday, the Cecilia Zhang story was big news in Shanghai's metropolitan dailies.

By yesterday, it was taboo — on orders of the city's propaganda chiefs.

News stories about Shanghai native Min Chen, 21 — charged in Toronto with the alleged kidnapping and murder of 9-year-old Cecilia — disappeared without a trace yesterday after local authorities deemed it indelicate, sources say.

The Shanghai Municipal Press and Publications Bureau, which regulates the local media, issued a circular Monday ordering editors to drop their coverage of the Chen family after the major dailies had given it prominent play.

"We're off the story," said one frustrated reporter for a Shanghai daily. "Our paper got notice to drop the story."

Local dailies had boldly splashed the story across their pages, reprinting verbatim translations from a Toronto Star story published the day before. The Star had tracked down the Chen family and quoted his mother, Wenying Hu, proclaiming his innocence.

One Chinese-language paper, the Oriental Morning Post, reproduced an image of the Sunday Star's front page and an inside page detailing the Chen family's reaction. Other papers, like the Shanghai Youth Daily, appear to have relied on a translation of the Star story published by Sing Tao in Toronto.

But after the brief flurry of Western-style media coverage, municipal authorities decided to crack down and rule out any reporting on the case until further notice.

Cecilia's abduction from her North York home in October sparked a massive search and an exhaustive criminal probe. Her body was found in a wooded area in Mississauga in March.

Yesterday, Chen's lawyer said his office has been in touch with Chen's mother and said his parents will come to Toronto.

"Someone from my office spoke to (Chen's mother) in Mandarin, so she knows what's going on," David Silverman told the Star's Camille Roy.