Saturday 2 October 2010

Porn novelist released from prison

DONGGUAN CITY, China—The arrest of a high school teacher and blogger who wrote a popular internet novel documenting the “hidden pornographic world” in Dongguan, an industrial city located in China’s Pearl River Delta, has galvanized the country’s literary class, according to an article on The EpochTimes.com website.
Yuan Lei, who wrote the 350,000-word In Dongguan, was released by police Wednesday after protests by fellow writers and others, but the fallout left some feeling insecure, especially since Yuan had committed no crime other than to write about an aspect of the city that the authorities would prefer were not publicized.
The novel, said the site, described “Dongguan City's hidden world, around the life of the younger generation and the local sauna and porn industry. China’s popular Tianya.cn forum saw 2.6 million web clicks since the novel was first serially published in June 2009. More than a dozen publishers have approached Yuan, though the novel has not yet passed official scrutiny.”
On Sept. 28, the police caught up with Yuan at his school and arrested him, charging him with the damaging the city’s reputation.
“Following Yuan's arrest, many web users commented that this novel merely reflects reality and should not be called disseminating pornography,” reported The EpochTimes.com. “Some were shocked to discover that writing a novel could even be cause for arrest.”
Another popular web writer, Murong Xuacun, said the arrest left him feeling unsure of his own safety. "If this person could be arrested, the next one to be arrested might be me. Or, if this person is arrested now, I should have been arrested a long time ago.”
Despite those fears, for others the release of Yuan is a sign that China is changing in profound ways, and “an indication of the awakening of Chinese people, and the power of people.”

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