Hillary Clinton's recent memoir Hard Choices won't be making it to mainland China anytime soon due to a restrictive ban which prevents the book from being published and distributed in the country.

Clinton's revealing memoir is known to be critical of the Chinese government, but that didn't prevent her publisher, Simon & Schuster, from trying to get the book overseas to China.

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China's government doesn't seem to be having any of it and the title was not approved for sale in the Mainland.

According to reports, the book won't be sold in English either. The day after Hard Choices hit shelves in the US, Shanghai Book Traders, the company which supplies foreign books to Amazon China, informed Simon & Schuster that the title would not be featured in China in either English or Chinese.

Clinton's 656-page book is a retelling of her experiences as secretary of state. In Hard Choices, the former first lady is critical of China's government, calling it the "epicenter of the antidemocratic movement in Asia."

The memoir also has several revealing passages about Clinton's dealings with Chinese senior officials. In one chapter, Clinton writes that during a discussion with China's state councilor, Dai Bingguo, about the U.S. "pivot strategy" in Asia, the councilor was quoted as telling Clinton:

"Why don't you 'pivot' out of here?"

It's possible that what really raised the ire of the Chinese government was Clinton's willingness to dedicate an entire chapter to her efforts on behalf of Chen Guangcheng. The so-called 'barefoot lawyer' is a well-known blind civil rights activist who sought asylum in the US after experiencing persecution and detainment by the Chinese government.

Simon & Schuster president Jonathan Karp released a statement calling the ban "outrageous and unfortunate.

"And it's a pretty clear indication of the low level of intellectual freedom in China right now." Karp further stated.

TagsHillary Clinton, Memoir, banned, censorship