Legal scholars say police are punishing writers outside their jurisdiction in an over-reach of authority.
By Qian Lang for RFA Mandarin
Police in northwestern China are cracking down on writers of online erotic fiction across the country, including many college students,according to RFA sources and media reports, amid concern that officers are punishing people outside their jurisdiction.
Police in Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province, have been summoning writers who don’t even live there. A report from Caixin media group said some have been referred to police for prosecution, and anecdotal evidence indicates writers are facing substantial fines.
A source who spoke to Radio Free Asia on condition of anonymity for safety reasons said the crackdown could involve 200-300 writers.
Their cases have also sparked a legal debate over the definition of “obscene materials” and renewed public discussion on the boundaries of creative freedom. Known as “Danmei,” the genre features romantic relationships between male characters. It originated in Japan and has become popular in China.
Amid tightened restrictions in China, many writers have turned to Haitang Culture, a Taiwanese-based adult fiction website established in 2015 to publish their work. The website on the democratic island doesn’t force censorship and allows explicit written content. Most readers are females.
Authorities in China have reacted. Last year, two China-based distributors affiliated with Haitang Culture were arrested for “assisting in information network criminal activities,” according to Shuiping Jiyuan, a news portal on the WeChat social media platform.
The recent police crackdown in Lanzhou followed similar moves in the eastern province of Anhui in June 2024, where authorities began arresting writers of online erotic fiction under the charge of “producing and distributing obscene materials for profit,” resulting in heavy fines and even prison sentences.
Police are seeking out writers even when they leave outside their jurisdiction – a practice that critics call “offshore fishing,” implying the motive of police is financial or political, rather than strictly legal.
“I don’t understand what they’re trying to do—are they pushing political correctness, or are they just desperate for money?” said Liu Yang, a veteran media professional in Lanzhou, told Radio Free Asia. “The police are short on funds, and now even arrests have become a way to make money.”
Two coins in tips
Cases in Anhui appeared focused on how much profit writers made. But according to multiple Chinese media reports, police in Lanzhou pursued suspects on the basis of what sort of traffic they were generating.
Many of those summoned are young women, including college students. A well-known Chinese online cultural critic Li Yuchen wrote on WeChat that one writer who received only “two Haitang coins” in tips was also placed under investigation and then moved to prosecutors.
Haitang refers to the Taiwan-based fiction website. RFA has sought comment from Haitang Culture but has yet to receive a response.
Song Tao, a Chinese university law lecturer, told RFA that Lanzhou police crackdown is one of the most expansive and controversial uses of the law on “producing, reproducing, publishing, or distributing obscene materials for profit” in recent years.
Tsinghua University legal scholar Lao Dongyan expressed concern on the Chinese microblogging platform Weibo, writing that the use of inconsistent legal standards risks undermining law enforcement and the justice system.
The case has triggered intense debate in Chinese legal circles. Several attorneys have posted on Weibo and WeChat offering free legal assistance to the families of those who have been detained.
The Emperor’s Scandalous History
Yunjian, one of the top writers on Haitang Culture, was arrested last year by Anhui police and later sentenced to four years and six months in prison, according to the news portal Shuiping Jiyuan. One of Yujian’s top works of fiction, The Emperor’s Scandalous History, is about a non-binary emperor who has relationships with male characters, including generals and chancellors.
Several fiction writers have posted online about their brush with Lanzhou police, although most online references to the crackdown have been removed from Chinese social media platforms, meaning only screenshots made by other users are still viewable.
“Probably in the past 20 years of my life, I never imagined that my first time flying would be to visit a police station in Lanzhou,” said one writer named Sijindesijin who claimed in a post on Weibo that she’d been contacted by Lanzhou police over stories she earned 4,000 yuan ($670) for. Her post, since deleted, implied that she’d had to fly to Lanzhou to deal with the matter. It wasn’t clear where she lived.
Some netizens posted on Weibo in support of Sijindesijin, whose handle translates as “silky silky.” RFA couldn’t reach Sijindesijin for comment or confirm the details of what allegedly happened and if the writer was detained.
Another writer named Jidepihuangmajia, who described herself as an undergraduate student, wrote in a post on Weibo that she flew to Lanzhou from Chongqing, a municipality which is administratively separate from Lanzhou, to meet with the local police and was asking for help from other users in borrowing money to pay the fine. The writer said that police claimed she had earned 21,313 yuan ($3,044) from writing the stories in question, and she was advised to return the money for a reduced punishment. This writer owed between 50,000 and 60,000 yuan ($7,100 to $8,500), including the fine.
Another writer from a top-tier university named Shijieshiyigejudadejingshenbingyuanha, whose handle translates as “The world is like a giant mental hospital,” claimed in the post that she was taken in for questioning by police and that her university had subsequently canceled her admission to graduate school.
Lawyers question police overreach
Chinese lawyer Ma Guoguang told RFA that under China’s Criminal Procedure Law, criminal cases should be investigated by police in the suspect’s place of residence or where the alleged crime occurred.
“The legality of Lanzhou police pursuing writers across the country—thousands of kilometers away—under the so-called ‘offshore fishing’ model is highly questionable,” he said.
But Chinese lawyer Tang Hongyang, who defended for several writers arrested by Anhui police last year, explained to Sanlian Lifeweek, an in-depth reporting magazine in China, “for crimes committed via the internet, there is a special legal provision: any location where the content can be accessed online is considered a place where the consequences of the crime occur.”
According to Sanlian Lifeweek, Lanzhou police summoned local readers of Haitang in Lanzhou to serve as witnesses while also summoning writers from other provinces.
Ma pointed out that China currently lacks clear judicial interpretations on fictional literary works containing explicit content. According to him, the line between online erotic fiction or adult fiction and actual obscene materials remains undefined, as does the legal threshold for what constitutes “public harm.”
The main guidelines of definition of obscene materials date back more than 20 years and were established when the internet was far less developed. Tsinghua University’s Lao argued that the definition should evolve with shifting social attitudes.
“They set relatively low thresholds for what constitutes ‘serious circumstances’,” Lao wrote in her post. “But in today’s more open environment, the bar for what qualifies as obscenity should clearly be raised.”
Ma warned that aggressive criminal enforcement under such vague standards could have a chilling effect on creative writing in China.
RFA contacted Lanzhou police but calls went unanswered.
Edited by Mat Pennington.
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