China breaks into young women who write gay eratics

“I was warned not to talk about it,” the woman wrote before revealing fragments of the day, she says she was arrested for publishing gay eratics.

“I will never forget it – carrying the car in full, transferring to the humiliation to get rid of the naked for the examination in front of strangers, putting a vest in the photos, sat in a chair, shaking with fear, knocking into my heart.”

The handle, Pingping Annan Yonf, is one of the least eight in the last months, which have shared accounting on the Chinese social media platform Weibo arrested for publication of gay -eratic fiction. As the authors talked about their experience, dozens of lawyers offered assistance to Bano.

At least 30 writers, almost all women in the 20th, were arrested across the country since February, said a defense lawyer. Many are under bail or are waiting for a trial, but some are still in custody. Another lawyer said the BBC that many more participants were summoned for questioning.

They published their work in the Haitang city, which is engaged in the Taiwanese platform, known for its “Danmei”, the genre of the so -called love of boys and erotic fiction.

Think about this as a gay version of fifty shades of gray: BDSM relationship leading to happy. This is a frequent trail in the settings of historical, fantastic or sci-fi. For many years he has grown fiercely devoted next, especially among young Chinese women.

These authors are accused of violating China’s pornography law for “making and disseminating obscene materials.” Writers who make profits can be imprisoned for over 10 years.

The law focuses on “obvious descriptions of gay sex or other sexual perversions”. In heterosexual images, there are often more free – works by famous Chinese authors, including the Nobel laureate, have graphic sex scenes, but widely available.

Although the authors of heterosexual eroticism are in prison in China, observers say the genre is subjected to much less censorship. It seems like a gay eratic that is more subversive, more concerned with the authorities. Volunteers in a support group for writers Gaitangu reported that the BBC police even asked some readers.

Those who reported that the arrested had abandoned the survey for fear of consequences. Police in the north -western city of Lanzhou, who are accused of managing this repression, did not respond to the BBC.

The repression was unleashed on the Internet – and a more rare refusal of the law.

“Did sex actually need something to be ashamed?” -Am asking the Weibo user, claiming that the laws on combating fighting in China are not connected. The other wrote that women never decide what obscene because they do not control the story. Even legal scientists have expressed concern that only 5,000 views on everything considered “obscene” is intended as a crime “distribution”, reducing the bar for the arrest of the creators.

It made Beijing difficult enough that the discussions were missing: #haitangautharsarrests attracted more than 30 million views on the web before he was censored. The messages offered by legal advice disappeared. The history of the Chinese news site has been shot. The writers’ accounts and some handles also disappear.

After pingping, Phang Yongus became a viral, she removed it and wrote another, thanking the fans and acknowledging that her writing violated the law. Then she removed the handle.

Prior to this last message, she wrote: “I was always a good girl in the eyes of my parents. But that day I brought them nothing but shame. They will never pick my head again.”

These women have long worked in the shadow in China, where homosexuality and eroticism are stigmatized. Now they are conducted by police investigations, they face social consequences, which are as cruel as legitimate.

“At that moment, everything I felt was shame,” – said the writer whose handle Weib translates into “World – a huge psychiatric hospital.” She said the police pulled her out of the class in college – and her classmates watched her followed her to search in the hostel.

“I made my money on the keyboard. But as soon as he went south, it was as if none of this had a matter. People treated me the way I made money without working for it.”

Another wrote that the police were good, advising her to talk to her lawyer and return her “illegal salary” to reduce the term. “I’m only 20 years old. So young, and I have already ruined my life.”

The third said, “I never imagined what the day would come when every word I wrote would return to chase me.”

One author who wrote Danmei’s novels for 20 years has not been questioned, but she says repression would not stop her. “That’s how I find happiness. And I can’t let go of the connection that I created with the community.”

Inspired by the love of Japanese boys, Daname became a palpine on the Internet in the 1990s. It became extremely successful, and some novels appeared on the international lists of bestsellers.

In 2021, 60 of them were selected for film adaptations and TV channels. The most expensive IP is reportedly sold for 40 million yuan ($ 5.6 million; £ 4.1 million). Some of the largest Chinese stars, such as Xiao Zhang and Van Ibo, started their careers on the Danmei novels.

In short, this is a rebellious royal pop -culture – too popular to ignore, too controversial for honoring.

And this is a signature offering a hetang that in the tangerine is a flower that blooms in every pink shade.

Beautiful, Hitang and Daname flourished as a clearly female space, although they are centered by men’s main characters. In a culture where women’s sexual desire is regularly engaged in politics, Danema Bekem is coded, creative output is a space where women can write about women’s desires for other women.

This is what Danmei does such a “sabotage”, says D -rs Liang, who teaches digital sociology at London University College. This allows women to “break away from gender realities”, which they often associate with marriage and motherhood.

For example, in Danmei history, men can become pregnant and calm if they are vulnerable – a sharp contrast from the often uneven relationships with which many Chinese are fighting in real life.

“Daname frees me from the idea of ​​all these potential dangers in the relationship in traditional heterosexual romance,” explains one writer who has been active in the world for decade.

Danmei novels do not do without their critics because some contain extraordinary and fierce scenes. “How can a father, how many of us can accept our children by reading such novels, not to mention their writing?” asked one Weibo user.

The authors’ era also raises concern: several those who talked to the BBC said they all started reading and writing gay -errors before they turned 18, some of them 11 years.

This is a problem that the community should admit and address, said Ma, writer Dange, who only shared his surname, adding that this is a problem for all adult content because China does not limit age content.

But, in particular, Daname has been increasingly attacked over the last decade when Beijing has started a number of companies to “clear” the Internet. In 2018, the author Danmei was imprisoned for 10 years for selling 7,000 copies of his book called “Play”.

As the level of marriage and birth falls, China’s leader Xi Jinping encourages national rejuvenation, so state control over Danema backed, says D -Gie.

“The Chinese government wants to promote traditional family values, and the sympathy of Daneman novels are considered as a factor to make women less willingly have children,” explains D -Gee.

This is the second wave of mass arrests in less than a year – up to 50 writers of Haitang were raised at the end of last year. A well -known author who earned about 1.85 million yuan was imprisoned for almost five years.

According to a lawyer who represented some defendants last year, two crackdown are similar, but this time even those who have a small part did not get rid of. “

The lawyer, who offered free legal advice, said more than 150 people had asked for consultations in just two days. Many of those who addressed her have not yet been charged – they were horrified.

“This is a classic offshore fishing,” says the lawyer who wrote “Practical Guide” to help writers Haith. The term refers to overcoming the local police – those who have caused writers in different places, perhaps beyond their jurisdiction.

Some reported that they were paying out of their pocket to fly to Lanzhou. One outlined that 2000 yuan earned two books on Hiton paid for a flight.

Last year, all arrests were police in Dzixi in eastern China.

Borrowed local authorities did so earlier to earn revenue at the expense of fines, sometimes forcing a warning from the Central Government. Cyber ​​-levy are particularly prone to this, “as long as they claim that the local reader was spoiled,” the lawyer says.

Danmei writers know that tolerance can be variable. That is why they are skirts of censorship with metaphors. “Make dinner” means sex; The “kitchen tool” is a code for the male genitals.

However, recent repressions have stunned them. “The phone call broke my dreams,” is how one writer described the police call.

They accused the police of searching for a phone without a warrant. They said their crime was assessed by adding opinions for each chapter – the method they claimed was misleading because it probably exaggerated the reader.

Another author Danmei published: “I have written about Hatang for years, only a few readers. Then these unpredictable stories accumulated more than 300,000 clicks, and 4,000 yuan in the fees sitting in my account were a testimony to my crime.”

It is difficult to find out if it records the end of their career on Haitone.

“If I could come back, I still decided to write. And I will continue to write,” the Sidin de Sidin wrote.

“Now I can only hope that the law will see outside the words on the page – and see a girl who missed food to save money, a girl who sold her hair to buy a feather, a girl who believed her mind can cut the way through fate. Hopefully it will give us a fair chance.”

Additional Grace Tsoi report in Hong Kong