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As far as I know the Chinese book market is heavily censored. I'd be curious about how this affects Chinese authors, and if and how they have to limit the topi

As far as I know the Chinese book market is heavily censored. I'd be curious about how this affects Chinese authors, and if and how they have to limit the topics and the creativity of their writing due to this.

yorwba 8y ago
Famous authors can write for the international translation market, essentially. A few months ago there was a submission about Yan Lianke's struggles: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18206445 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18206445 It's still possible to read banned books on the mainland if you know the right sites, but most consumers of banned literature are probably just looking for porn, so you might need to do some digging to find something more high-brow. I'm not sure what lesser-known authors do, but I guess they try to keep their fiction as fictional as possible.
- taurath 8y ago
  Is porn banned? Or only some types?
  - withhighprod 8y ago
    It’s banned but every student beyond 7th grade has a secret link and it was worth bragging
  - rqs 8y ago
    By law, yes. And redistribution of porn materials is a crime that can send committers to prison, depends generally on how much money they've earned from it or/and how many redistribution has been made etc. But personal consumption is not illegal. To put it simple, if you want to be a 100% law obeying person in China, then you can watch porn, but you cannot produce it, you cannot copy it and send to others, you cannot recommend it to others. The real life situation is bit different of course.
johnnyb3 8y ago
I read Liu Cixin's trilogy cover to cover about a year ago. Many references to Western thought including the Bible, social topics, and a surprising (for me) amount of diversity injected into the plot line. Grand and sweeping, it's great Sci Fi literature. It's hard to imagine that it is the result of any significant censorship. I found it a fascinating glimpse into the modern Chinese way of thinking.
- Latteland 8y ago
  But it wasn't written today. Can someone point to such a free and exploratory book is written in China today? I hope writers there will again have the freedom of the three body rule.
- echevil 8y ago
  Sci-Fi novels are generally less impacted by censorship as they are undoubted considered as fictions. References to religion, social topics etc. are not a focus of censorship
nabla9 8y ago
I suspect it's the same as it was in the Soviet Block. Sci-fi allows more freedoms for writers and good sci-fi flourishes.

yorwba 8y ago

Famous authors can write for the international translation market, essentially. A few months ago there was a submission about Yan Lianke's struggles: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18206445 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18206445 It's still possible to read banned books on the mainland if you know the right sites, but most consumers of banned literature are probably just looking for porn, so you might need to do some digging to find something more high-brow. I'm not sure what lesser-known authors do, but I guess they try to keep their fiction as fictional as possible.

taurath 8y ago
Is porn banned? Or only some types?
- withhighprod 8y ago
  It’s banned but every student beyond 7th grade has a secret link and it was worth bragging
- rqs 8y ago
  By law, yes. And redistribution of porn materials is a crime that can send committers to prison, depends generally on how much money they've earned from it or/and how many redistribution has been made etc. But personal consumption is not illegal. To put it simple, if you want to be a 100% law obeying person in China, then you can watch porn, but you cannot produce it, you cannot copy it and send to others, you cannot recommend it to others. The real life situation is bit different of course.

johnnyb3 8y ago

I read Liu Cixin's trilogy cover to cover about a year ago. Many references to Western thought including the Bible, social topics, and a surprising (for me) amount of diversity injected into the plot line. Grand and sweeping, it's great Sci Fi literature. It's hard to imagine that it is the result of any significant censorship. I found it a fascinating glimpse into the modern Chinese way of thinking.

Latteland 8y ago
But it wasn't written today. Can someone point to such a free and exploratory book is written in China today? I hope writers there will again have the freedom of the three body rule.
echevil 8y ago
Sci-Fi novels are generally less impacted by censorship as they are undoubted considered as fictions. References to religion, social topics etc. are not a focus of censorship

nabla9 8y ago

I suspect it's the same as it was in the Soviet Block. Sci-fi allows more freedoms for writers and good sci-fi flourishes.