Haitang Case - Introduction and Assistance Information

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TL;DR:

In China, gay fiction writers are being persecuted for “Producing and distributing obscene materials for profit”.

Persecution of LGBTQ+ writing under the name of “obscene materials” isn’t really news to the community. Canadian queers will tell you about Little Sisters Book and Art Emporium v Canada in 2000, where Canadian Customs blocked bookstores’ shipment of LGBTQ+ books for being “obscene materials”, and Little Sisters fought back (and won, yay!). Today in The United States, queer books are actively being banned from schools and libraries for being “pornographic”. Well, in China, not only are books being banned, but the writers are being persecuted.

Queer readers might be familiar with the genre danmei, which is a genre of mlm romance fiction written in Chinese. With Heaven Official’s Blessing streaming on Netflix, danmei is getting popular along with queer media from other Asian countries, like Japan, Korea and Thailand. However, western readers rarely know that the author of Heaven Official’s Blessing, Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, was reportedly sentenced to 3 years in jail back in 2020. Don’t worry, this is not to cancel your favorite author, in fact it must be stressed that she did nothing wrong.

Screenshots from Parks and Recreation, where a young woman says “I have done nothing wrong, ever, in my life.”; an older man behind the desk replies “I know, and I love you.”

It is unclear what Mo Xiang Tong Xiu was charged for, since the court refused to disclose the details of the case; but it was widely believed in China that she was persecuted because she wrote about, well, gay people. It might not come as a surprise to you that Mo Xiang Tong Xiu is not the only danmei writer persecuted by the Chinese Government. Back in 2018, danmei author Tianyi was sentenced to 10 years in prison for her work “Occupy”(《攻占》, a ~78k-word explicit fic featuring BDSM themes, published online); The book was described by police as depicting “obscene sexual behavior between males”. The 10-year sentence came off as too harsh and garnered international attention at the time.

However, the case drawing such attention didn’t really end up helping the victim much (as with many atrocities happening around the world), and in the past few months the persecution of such writers has ramped up, with an estimated of ~200 writers involved.

These are writers who have published on Haitang Literature City (海棠文学城), a platform with a large female reader base featuring explicit mlm romance, along with a plethora of diverse writings (reminiscent of AO3, but for original work and profiting). Although often criticized for its pulp-fiction quality, Haitang did provide a relatively uncensored platform for many writers in China. This has all changed. The police have acquired personal information of the authors from Haitang, with which they made swift and numerous arrests. These writers are predominantly young women in their 20s and 30s. Many were taken into custody without due process, where they have experienced excessive police brutality. Large fines were demanded, which has thrown many families into bankruptcy. (See links below for a series of victim accounts, translated to English.)

According to legal experts, since Haitang is a website based in Taiwan, it is doubtful that Chinese police have jurisdiction over writers publishing there. The arrests were reportedly made in the name of “obscene materials for profit”, but even those who write for free and those who didn’t write explicit content were questioned and/or taken into custody. Readers who’re not familiar with Chinese politics might be wondering what exactly the police are trying to achieve by making these arrests. Due to the largely unaccountable police force and a long absence of free press in China, investigative journalism is nearly impossible, but it is widely believed that:

And this is the story of yet another marginalized group facing persecution.

Now English readers, if you have reached the end of this page, please help us. Spread the word, post on social media, email the publisher of your favorite danmei novel. There’s preciously little we can do, but at least do not let the tree fall without hearing its sound.

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