Censorship is rampant in China’s book publication industry. This is regularly discussed and detailed in English at sites such http://paper-republic.org/ and http://www.bruce-humes.com

Confronting your Chinese hosts with “tough” questions like “Is there censorship?” will hardly get you good answers. There are many pressure-points: Book editors and publishers who want to avoid fines or worse for publishing politically incorrect books; authors who may lose their jobs in academia; and of course, ensuring that an author cannot collect his or her royalties for a banned book. This is all very familiar, really. The Soviet Union had the same levers in place, and used them as required.

I assume you are writing for publishers outside the PRC who know China is hot, but aren’t quite sure how to identify writers and works that would be of interest to international readers.

One way to give them the info they want is to find out: Which popular books are unlikely to show up in the Frankfurt Book Fair, at least in translated form? Which authors have been “banned” from going there, i.e., they either cannot get an exit visa, or have been told informally they should not go?

I have heard in the grapevine — and cannot confirm — that Yan Lianke, author of the satirical novel “Serve the People,” is on the list of those the authorities have blacklisted. Ask him!

As you visit publishers, agents, authors and translators, ask: Which controversial authors are NOT on Beijing’s list of authors invited to go to the Frankfurt Book Fair? What books have been banned in mainland China over the last two years, but published in HK and Taiwan to critical acclaim?

I suspect you will get some interesting answers, and in the process help your overseas publishers get a grip on what is coming out of China that is likely to be of interest to readers abroad. This is certainly not the only way to identify writing talent, but in today’s China, it is useful.

Bruce Humes
Chinese Books, English Reviews
http://www.bruce-humes.com

This may need a correction, maybe “bashi hou” or “baling hou”.

An intellectual wrote this? Or perhaps a non-native speaker? After the second spelling error, I stopped reading carefully. Sorry, I can’t take uneducated intellectuals seriously.

There isn’t a word for ‘intellectual’ in Chinese. They have a word, but intellectual is just a translation. I’d figure that an intellectual would be aware of that. Chinese traditions of scholarship are different from Western ones.

A long lookat history will tell you why Americans regard intellectuals with suspicion. Common folk usually just want to be left alone to live their lives. “Think for yourself” is the mantra, instead of the Chinese system of “your betters will decide for you.”

Less of an obsession with being called an intellectual would be a good start.