777 “You can’t say that China is bad, and you can’t say that foreign countries are good”｜Mainland China’s publishing industry “The art of evading domination”

Beast Press: As I have been engaged in publishing and media work in Beijing for many years, I read this article "You can't say China is bad, you can't say foreign countries are good": "The art of escaping rule" in the publishing industry in mainland China" , Mixed feelings. Except for Brother Su Li who was interviewed under his real name, you can also tell who the other colleagues in the publishing industry who were interviewed anonymously were.

Coupled with the "Fucha Incident" some time ago and the "Causeway Bay Bookstore Incident" many years ago, there is a feeling that the lights of the publishing industry in the Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan are gradually going out. Recalling Zhang Jieping's report " China's Salon Boom Promotes Enlightenment of Civil Society" written by Zhang Jieping when he was still working in "Asia Weekly" in 2010, it feels like a lifetime away.

2010/11/1-11/7 2010 Issue 44 Zhang Jieping Asia Weekly

China's Salon Boom Promotes Civil Society Enlightenment (Zhang Jieping)

Salon craze is quietly emerging in China, Sanwei Bookstore, One Way Street, Chuanzhixing, UCCA, Yufeng Library in Beijing, reading materials in Shanghai, Concave Bar and New Media Women’s Salon in Guangzhou, Caotang Reading Club in Chengdu, Co-China in Hong Kong , preface study room, etc. The lecture topics range from social reform to personal life, and often have breakthrough and bold remarks. Therefore, some salons are monitored by the authorities, but the two sides can reach a tacit understanding. Constitutional reform and freedom of speech have become the most concerned topics, promoting internal dialogue among citizens in the public sphere, and enlightening China's growing civil society.

On Sunday afternoon, the second floor of the small bookstore was full of people, some seats were crowded with two or three people, more people stood in rows behind the reserved seats in the bookstore, and even the entire staircase was full of people, latecomers I couldn't even go upstairs, so I could only stand against the wall in the book shopping area on the first floor, looking up and listening to the microphone sound from upstairs.

Most people will continue to stand like this for more than two hours, and do so every week.

This is a well-known one-way street bookstore in Beijing. The "one-way street salon" is held every weekend, attracting one or two hundred people to listen and discuss. Since the establishment of the bookstore in 2006, more than 500 salons have been held. Xiao Wu, the planner of the salon, said that the reason why "One-Way Street" is called a "salon" rather than a "lecture" is because "this is not a class or lecture, we hope that everyone is equal and can discuss openly."

What is going on is an extremely grand topic launched by young scholar and writer Xiong Peiyun and Japanese student Kato Kaichi: "How can individuals transform society?" After a speech of about half an hour, it will be open to the scene for nearly two hours, the speaker and the audience Have lively discussions, even arguments. Xiong Peiyun said that facing the heart is more important than facing the society. Immediately, a female audience stood up and retorted. She said in a sad tone that this was cowardice, and said how you can see those injustices happening in society and do nothing. Xiong Peiyun also said that transforming the world can only start with transforming oneself, "There are no enemies in the heart, only those who want to help." Another male audience stood up to support Xiong Peiyun. Then the topic continued, and more people began to tell their personal experiences and worries about social reality. Some people talk about petitioning, some talk about political reform, and some talk about their experience of being "reformed" from childhood to adulthood.

Most of the listeners of One Way Street are young people born in the 1980s. According to the live statistics of the host, half of them are college students. There are also middle-aged people, women with gray hair, sitting on the stairs and taking notes seriously.

Shen Wen, who works in a foreign bank, was also present. In her words, she wanted to experience this "idealistic aura" after graduation for many years. "I didn't find this topic interesting at first, because I thought the problem was too big to Answer. But the aura here is very moving and warm to me. This kind of discussion reminds me of many words that I have forgotten, or questions that I would never think about at ordinary times.”

Salon becomes a civic enlightenment classroom

There is not only one "one-way street".

It is just one of more than a hundred large and small salons held every week in Beijing.

If the map is enlarged, it is a small landmark of the growing salon culture in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Hong Kong and other places. And such landmarks, the speed of increase in recent years, seems to be blooming everywhere.

Every weekend, there are always seven or eight salons focusing on civic topics held in various corners of the capital at the same time, and the audience of each session is about a hundred people; there are also at least seven or eight cafes, and various documentaries are being held at the same time In addition to social issues, book clubs, horoscopes, spiritual practice, technology, office politics... Holding more life-oriented public salons has become the most fashionable choice for cafes nowadays.

Sanwei Bookstore, One-Way Street, Chuanzhixing, UCCA, Yufeng Library in Beijing, Reading Salon in Shanghai, Concave Bar and New Media Women’s Salon in Guangzhou, Caotang Reading Club in Chengdu, Co-China Forum in Hong Kong, Preface Book Room , are already well-known landmarks of folk salons everywhere.

In the past few years, "big lecture halls" have become popular in China. From "Lingnan lecture hall" to "Yanshan lecture hall", they are usually organized by the media and invite well-known scholars to give public lectures on public issues. After one lecture hall, there are hundreds of listeners. Thousands of people have already gradually become a brand. The "big lecture hall" is still going on, and now, from the "big lecture hall" to the "small salon", a richer and more open public discourse space is also sprouting in the depths of society.

According to Guo Yujie, a media person, such a private salon with more than a hundred people, whether it is concerned with the grand issues of society or the happy life of individuals, as long as it is a free, independent, and responsible discussion for their own opinions, They are all making small contributions to the formation of civil society.

Xiao Wu from One Way Street feels that the most important meaning of "salon" compared with "lecture hall" is "equality".

Chinese people most need to learn dialogue

Li Shiqiang and Liu Yuansheng, the owners of the oldest bookstore salon, "Sanwei Bookstore", believe that the most rare spiritual temperament here has been running the salon for nearly 20 years, from the long-term solitary life to the climate in recent years. It is "dialogue": "On our public communication platform, we are not advocating that one voice overwhelm another, but to allow all voices to be heard. Dialogue, this is what the Chinese need to learn most."

Founded in May 1988, Sanwei Bookstore has a very high seniority in private bookstores in China. The two owners, Li Shiqiang and Liu Yuansheng, are old-school intellectuals. After opening a tea room on the second floor of the bookstore in 1992, Leading the trend of the first to run a lecture salon. Unlike One-Way Street, most of the audience here are in their 30s to 50s, with a wide range of occupations.

Sanwei Bookstore’s speech time is one hour, and the discussion time is one and a half hours. The speech should not be long, and the discussion should not be short, because the topics often focus on the bottom society, constitutional reform, and freedom of speech. It often leads to heated debates, and people with different opinions face-to-face debate with red faces.

Legal scholar Xiao Han gave a lecture on "Judicial Independence and Political Reform" in the bookstore last week, emphasizing that in addition to upper-level reforms, the people must be prepared: "Without a mature civil society, any form of political reform is meaningless." The audience asked: Where does the power of civil society to force reforms come from? Xiao Han said: "Freedom of speech, and now is the best time to force the reform of the regime." Immediately afterwards, a radical audience stood up and shouted that they were equally disappointed with the regime and the intellectuals, and believed that the intellectuals were lackeys. Xiao Han's mildness connives at the government's corruption; Xiao Han patiently explained why he wanted to make mild reforms instead of taking to the streets for radical revolution. He was interrupted by a middle-aged man who said he felt desperate and questioned everyone loudly "How can I bear it?"...

The moving situation is that Xiao Han has not yet refuted, and Li Shiqiang at the scene has not yet persuaded the middle-aged people to be quiet, and more audience members have already consciously argued with radicals: "You can disagree with other people's views, but you should not Feel free to interrupt other people's narration." "You can finish listening first, then discuss."

Watching this scene at the scene, the radicals were not kicked out of the venue because of harsh remarks, and others were not accused or abused because of their fierce attitude. On such a deeply sensitive issue as "political reform", all parties in the discussion were restrained and rational , the "citizen dialogue" expected by the owner of the bookstore gradually formed an atmosphere.

In Beijing, after listening to One-Way Street, Sanwei Bookstore, and Feng Ru Song Salon, many foreigners will be surprised that such a bold public salon appears in China.

The writer Yefu gave a lecture on "folk writing" on the one-way street, but the questions were almost all about Wen Jiabao talking about political reform. Some young viewers even stood up and asked, "What do you think of overseas democracy movements?" Yefu hesitated and said with a smile : "I have been a policeman, I know that my former colleague must be sitting here. In order not to cause trouble for the organizer, I think I will not say too much..."

But he still gives his point, word for word, smoothly.

Just past October 25, Huntsman, the US ambassador to China, gave a speech at Sanwei Bookstore. The owner of the bookstore did his best to ensure tolerance and allowed questions about Liu Xiaobo's winning of the Peace Prize. Huntsman finally said that global leaders must endure all kinds of criticism, which is what China should learn, "It's great that we can have a conversation here today.

It would be nice to be able to discuss this. I believe this is also a good symbol of the development of Chinese society at this stage."

A week before Hong Bopei's visit, Xin Ziling, who had planned to talk about political reform at Sanwei Bookstore, did not make the trip because of the pressure from state security and the stability maintenance atmosphere of the Liu Xiaobo incident. The bookstore did not cancel the salon, but invited legal scholar Xiao Han to replace it, and changed the topic to "judicial independence and political reform".

Li Shiqiang, the owner of the bookstore, said that due to the sensitive topic, temporary substitutions occasionally happen, but in recent years it has been rare.

"After so many years of fighting, our speech space has reached a tacit agreement with the department responsible for guarding us." In every salon of Sanwei Bookstore, there must be a police car parked not far or near the door of the bookstore. Among the audience at the scene, there will be There are national security guards who hide their identities, but there will be no on-site intervention in the discussion. "Like Xin Ziling talking about political reform, the bookstore side, the national security department has finally acquiesced to us, and finally Mr. Xin's side is too stressed to travel."

Li Shiqiang said that he never cared about having "ears" listening, "What we want is an open discussion. Freedom must start from everyone's heart, and everything should be said on the surface." Chang Feng, a college student who often listens to lectures in Sanwei, said: "It is best that the "ears" can discuss with us openly, this is the best!"

Civilian discussions that often focus on social issues will inevitably attract the attention of stability maintenance forces. But what makes salon owners feel hopeful is that there is now less direct intervention and more acquiescence. Even during sensitive periods, such as during the Liu Xiaobo Peace Prize, what salons receive most is "greetings" rather than "bans."

Du Ting, a media person who hosted the Co-China Forum in Hong Kong and broadcast live in the Mainland through new media, believes that for civic enlightenment, the salon method is undoubtedly "the most direct means of communication". Newspapers are one-way communication, unlike the virtuality of the Internet, salons place great emphasis on dialogue, which is precisely what is lacking in our education and what is most needed for the growth of civil society.”

As for her personal feeling, it has only been a year since she advocated for the rescue of Xu Zhiyong at the salon in 2009, and now everyone is talking about the Liu Xiaobo incident outspokenly. Obviously much weaker", "Everyone is not so afraid anymore".

The word Salon comes from French, and its original meaning is "living room". Since the 15th century, it has been a popular way of socializing among the upper class in Europe, and it has gradually developed into the cultural and artistic circles. The owner entertained friends in his circle in his living room, and talked about literature, art, philosophy and other topics all over the world.

In the 1930s, during the period of the Republic of China, a group of intellectuals in Peiping who had overseas experience also had Chinese-style salons. "No. 3 Beizongbu Hutong", Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin's "Saturday Gathering", later called "Wife's Living Room", was the most famous cultural salon at that time. In addition to the hosts Liang Sicheng and Lin Huiyin, regular guests of this salon include a group of cultural and academic elites such as Xu Zhimo, Jin Yuelin, Zhang Xiruo, Hu Shi, Shen Congwen, Xiao Qian, He Qifang, and American scholars Fei Zhengqing and Fei Weimei. I also often come to Tuanqu to discuss art with Chinese scholars. Also famous is the poetry reading of Zhu Guangqian's family in "Di'anmen Cihui Temple No. 3".

Idealism in the Eighties

Another peak of salon culture was in the 1980s. Scholars and cultural people who walked through the 1980s never forget the idealistic atmosphere of that era. Zhu Wei said in his book: "The 1980s was an era when groups of three and four could sit together and chat about literature all night long, it was an era when everyone could get together, drink beer and watch movies all night long, You can "press" the road like a lover, walk from Zhang Chengzhi's house to Li Tuo's house, buy watermelons downstairs at Li Tuo's house, eat and chat under the street lights, and then walk along Chaoyangmenwai Street to Dongsi The era of Shijo Zheng Wanlong's house..."

Xu Zhiyuan, one of the owners of the One-Way Street Bookstore, quoted this passage in large sections when he presided over the One-Way Street Salon several times after 2006. This is his ideal civil society, and the salon is also based on this ideal. He said that these are the different voices of the two eras. Now as a salon, it is more open to the public, but he believes in the meaning of this kind of enlightenment. "After many years, many young people who often come to One-way Street will also produce many elites." .

One-Way Street, established on January 1, 2006, is another banner of the Bookstore Salon.

Many old readers still remember the one-way street before the relocation, which was transformed from an abandoned gallery next to the Old Summer Palace, a courtyard paved with gray stones, surrounded by layers of tall walnut trees, and dozens of chairs formed a semicircle , the cultural salon is naturally formed here. Speeches, public welfare painting exhibitions, poetry readings, documentary screenings, and even dramas are all inclusive; Qian Liqun, Jia Zhangke, Liu Xiaodong, A Cheng, Yan Jun, Zhou Yunpeng, Lin Xi, Liao Yimei... The guests came here and sat down naturally. Just chat with the people around you.

Painter Liu Xiaodong once commented on One-Way Street: "This small bookstore is the most beautiful I have ever seen." He said that he once went to the salon on a light rainy day: "It is in a small forest with few people. It is very beautiful. Very spiritual, some drinks, some coffee, some books, but there is no podium. The quality of the questions raised by the audience is very high. I did not expect that young people who are far away from the art area in the east have such in-depth views on art, and the whole atmosphere is full of opinions. The awe of knowledge."

After two hundred and twenty-nine salons, due to the pressure of survival, One Way Street Bookstore moved to the commercial area "Blue Harbor". However, this European-style shopping mall did not dispel the "awe of knowledge". On the contrary, the weekend salon became more popular because it is located in the commercial district. In Blue Harbor, more than 300 salons were held. Zhang Yihe, He Weifang, Zhang Ming, Liang Wendao, Chen Danqing, Zhu Tianwen, Luo Yonghao, Zhang Dachun, Mo Yan, Yefu... the arrival of many guests will be like the one at the beginning of the article. In one scene, the upper and lower floors of this small bookstore were crowded with people, regardless of the weather.

Salon owners are even more excited to plan what's to come. Zeng Xiannan, the salon planner of Phoenix Reading Network, found a series of liberal arts and general education curriculum syllabi in Hong Kong and Taiwan for reference. She felt that the "civic education" class that is most lacking in Chinese universities may be slowly developed through the long-running folk salons. Fill.

Liu Daoyi, a doctoral student at Peking University and a well-known salon planner in college circles, hopes to find the inheritance of classical spirit in future folk salons: "In the salon, guests can even invite guests to speak Latin!"

In the cafe in the alley, the owners of the salons discussed excitedly, wrote down the long list of guests in their notebooks, and gathered the most famous scholars all at once. It seemed that a hundred or two hundred salons were just around the corner.

The word they utter the most is citizen, citizen, and citizen.

It doesn't matter the location, because "Sanwei Bookstore" and "One-Way Street" are no longer alone. More and more bookstores and cafes have introduced salon culture. As long as there is a good theme, each location can arouse heated discussions.

After the one-way street joined, the "Blue Harbor" shopping mall specially changed the name of the street where the bookstore is located to "Left Bank". Or is this a good wish, the left bank of the salon, the left bank of the ideal, the left bank of freedom—and the so-called civil society is not exactly on this "left bank" one after another, where it accumulates and develops?

Shanghai Reading Salon Still Water Flows Deep

In an overcrowded Starbucks in Xujiahui, Shanghai, Liang Jie, a 30-year-old doctoral student, frowned and said that the city is too flashy and money-worshipping, and it is becoming more and more like a "cultural desert."

As a native Shanghai native who grew up in Lilong, Liang Jie’s words sound like “deep love and deep responsibility.” He said: “In this city, talented people become white-collar workers and house slaves. People only talk about houses, Cars, money, money, money. Ideas give way to existential reality, and no one cares about public issues.”

He and his friends set up "Reading Products", which, in their words, is like "raising a seedling in the desert".

"Reading" is a purely non-profit organization, which is well-known in the Shanghai intellectual circle. They produce reading e-magazines, have an online group, and started a physical salon in 2007.

Zhou Mingzhi, editor-in-chief of "Reading" magazine, explained the original intention of their salon: "We want to create a public space, which is very, very rare in Shanghai. We hope that ordinary readers will have the opportunity to participate, exchange ideas with scholars and writers, and let others Deep questions find expression in a consumerist culture.”

The first series of Reading Salon has a poetic name called "Today, we read". They cooperated with Monsoon Book Garden, a landmark private bookstore in Shanghai, and the first phase opened on January 16, 2007 in Monsoon's coffee gallery. Liang Jie is the first speaker of the salon, and the topic of discussion is "Spatial Memory".

Liang Jie said that it was the first time to hold a salon, but unexpectedly, the small coffee gallery was really full, and some people stood and listened to the whole scene. In this way, the salon continued uncontrollably, focusing on topics ranging from "identity" to "economic imperialism", from "Habermas" to "investigation on Chinese migrant workers", from "higher education" to "modern The Soviet factor behind China", from "Chinese people imagine the world with strange powers and gods" to "What is a better city at the World Expo"; in addition to the "Today, we study" series, it also opened up "Three Rural Issues", " Focus on Hong Kong", "Mirroring Europe", "Writing Site", and "World Eye". Since 2007, the reading has held a total of 71 salons.

The salon has no source of funding. Yan Bofei, the owner of Monsoon Bookstore, values ​​the like-mindedness of these young people, and lends them free venues for each salon; Shanghai scholars are happy to enjoy a public space for voice and discussion. Young people took advantage of the opportunity of their passing through Shanghai and strongly invited guests to the salon—a pure thought salon with zero cost and almost zero cost, and it blossomed.

Before "Reading Products", there were no similar public thought salons in Shanghai; after "Reading Products", salons also formed a small trend in Shanghai. Similar latecomers include "The Bund Forum" and "Book City Salon" and so on. .

Zhou Mingzhi said that the Shanghai salon cannot be compared with the "hustle and bustle" in Beijing. He is impressed by the richness of topics and the space for discussion in the Beijing salon, but at the same time he also feels the "jianghu spirit" in Beijing culture: "Sometimes it is just too lively. , It may be because there are many competitors, eager to make some noise, the form is greater than the content, and the real discussion is not deep enough.”

Difference between Beijing and Shanghai salons

A cultural reporter who has been in the salons of Beijing and Shanghai all the year round once had an interesting analogy: the attendees of the Beijing salon talked fiercely, like a group of wounded wolves licking each other's wounds; stinger, stay safe while sharing.

"You can't say that China is bad, and you can't say that foreign countries are good": "The art of evading domination" in the publishing industry in mainland China

Staff Writer Michelle Zhang from Singapore

2023-04-24

"Soul Call: The Chinese Sorcery Panic of 1768" (hereinafter referred to as "Soul Call") continues to occupy a place in the bestseller list of Beijing Wansheng Book Garden in March 2023.

Since it topped the monthly bestseller list of the most well-known independent bookstore in mainland China in May 2022, "Soul Call" has been on the list for 11 consecutive months.

"Soul Calling" was first published in 1990. The book describes the social panic caused by a sorcery called "Soul Calling" during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. Mechanism, showing how panic and rumors stir up the dynastic politics of the "Golden Age". Regarding the phenomenon that this book is sought after by readers so far, the book reviewer Wu Qingxiang commented that this is where the vitality of the book lies. "Of course, in the eyes of some people, this is also the horror of the book," he added.

Contrary to the dominance of "Soul Calling" in the All Saints Book Garden, the two large chain bookstores, CITIC Bookstore and Sisyphus Bookstore, have quietly withdrawn the book as early as October 2022.

Compared with the tangible disappearance, the invisible disappearance is more deceptive.

In March 2023, a commercial organization focusing on book industry consulting in mainland China released the "2022 Book Retail Market Annual Report", showing that the number of new book varieties published in mainland China in 2022 will decrease by 25,000 compared with 2021, of which original new books will decrease by 5,000 species, and the introduction of new books decreased by 20,000 species.

The reduction in the variety of new books is unnoticeable to the general public, but the core conveyed by the books that have been qualified for publication has slowly penetrated into the texture of public cognition in a subtle way.

Regarding the reduced number of new book categories, several book editors concluded that in the past two years, under the pressure of the general environment, one of the principles of publishing books is "not to say that China is not good, and not to say that foreign countries are good."

Liu Suli, the founder of Wansheng Book Garden, described the situation facing the book publishing industry as "the water has reached the neck". As the founder of All Saints Book Garden, he is trying his best to appeal to publishing organizations not to let some books disappear, "Let the knowledge pool, the pool of ideas, and the pool of art and culture maintain a certain concentration, so that when someone is willing to jump into the pool So you won't be out of breath."

monopolized narrative power

“No one mourns the old Chinese bureaucracy. Even by the standards of the time, it did more social harm than just crushing the ankles of a few helpless vagrants.”

Kong Feili, "Soul Call: The Chinese Sorcery Panic of 1768"

In Wu Qingxiang's view, the emotional resonance brought to the public by "Soul Calling" is rooted in the unscrupulous public power in the three years of the epidemic. It's just that people can't find related books that have been published recently for intellectual and emotional sustenance, and instead they can only read in old papers Find the mapping of reality.

"The government has not reflected on what has been done during the epidemic so far, leaving the public to heal their own wounds. But not reflecting on, not pursuing accountability, and pretending that the events of the past three years did not happen does not mean that this period of history can be wiped away. Nothing. The re-selling of "Soul Call" is, to a certain extent, the public's 'responsibility'."

On April 1, 2023, the first anniversary of the closure of Shanghai, some readers pointed out that rereading "Soul Call" at this moment can seamlessly integrate the history of more than 200 years ago with contemporary history, and joked that the modern name of this book can be completely changed. For "Clearing: China's Absurd Society in 2022".

But this is only a very small and allusive "responsibility" of the people. In fact, no scholar or writer in mainland China has written or published a book on the prevention and control of the epidemic and the loss of public power after "Fang Fang's Diary". This means that, so far, for the past three years, there is no systematic record of the Chinese intellectual circles.

In Zhou Xiao's view, this is a clear example of state power monopolizing public narratives, and said: "Among the thousands of original books that have been reduced, there may be Chinese intellectuals who want to express publicly on epidemic control. But they've been deprived of the narrative."

Zhou Xiao is a book editor of a well-known publishing company. In his perception, fear of state power has long been a tradition in the Chinese publishing industry. He picked up the taboos that private publishing organizations should never touch: "Modern history, including party history, biographies of state leaders, ethnic issues, etc. are all absolute taboos."

These taboos are clearly stated in the relevant regulations issued by the National Press and Publication Administration of China, which involve the selection of topics in terms of national security and social stability; the selection of topics for major events, major decision-making processes, and important figures in the history of the People's Republic of China; special or Concentrate on reflecting and evaluating the "Cultural Revolution" and other historical and important events and selected topics of important figures; reflect selected topics such as economy, politics, history, culture, and important social affairs of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region and Taiwan; involve the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, etc. The topics selected in 12 directions, such as major events in the socialist period and topics selected by major leaders, are called major topics, and they need to be filed with relevant state departments. Without the approval of the filing, they cannot be published.

Cooperating with the explicit instructions of the above regulations, the gradually tightened hidden rules are also playing an increasingly deterrent role.

Li Jiaming described this tightening as "the wind is jittery", "No one tells you where the publishing standards are, but adopts a 'one size fits all' policy for all potentially sensitive subjects, that is, they are not allowed to be published."

Li Jiaming is also a senior book editor. He once set out to plan several books about Nazi Germany, but after many layers of review, he ended up without a problem. "From the beginning to the end, no one told me the reason why I couldn't publish it. It feels like this is the arbitrary action of the review department, so sometimes it really depends on luck to publish a book."

In Zhou Xiao's view, this practice of never clearly telling the reason is probably because the audit department is afraid of leaving a handle, does not want the relevant audit opinions to be fermented again, and wants to deal with the audit matter in a low-key way. "After all, the heavy blow to the cultural industry reflects the arrogance, recklessness and wantonness of power, which is not something glorious."

However, in Liu Suli's eyes, the "persecution" of books and the establishment of taboos are more like an inherent "national gene", a fear of "knowledge" by power inherited from "burning books and burying Confucianism". This fear makes the censorship obscura all the more brutal.

Zhou Xiao and Li Jiaming have a common feeling that it is becoming more and more difficult to publish books about the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries, "especially books about the history of socialist countries in Eastern Europe. Ten years ago, this was unimaginable. As for I can only guess the reason for not giving up, because these countries are also socialist countries, but many of them have even failed the system. The official should be afraid that the relevant books will allude to something, such as the flaws of the socialist system, A humanitarian disaster carried out in the name of socialism." Li Jiaming pointed out.

As the most prestigious and influential publishing brand in China, Utopia published the "Soviet Trilogy" in 2014 and 2016 respectively - "The Last Day of the Soviet Union: Moscow, December 25, 1991" "The Whisperer" : Private Life in the Soviet Union in the Stalin Era, "Love in the Gulag: A True Story of Love and Survival", these three books were included in the ideal country translation series. However, in 2017, these books were reduced to "banned books", removed from the shelves of major bookstores, and banned from printing and distribution.

Regarding the original intention of publishing these books, Xu Mingsheng, who once worked in the Utopia, said bluntly: "Ten years ago, there were very loud voices for China's rise, and after the voice of China's rise was heard, the way Chinese people viewed the world was no longer the same as before. But We still need to interpret and understand what the world is like. In addition, many countries in the world are also facing various problems like China, such as how to deal with "national scars" (such as the legacy of the Cultural Revolution), we We need to learn from other people's experience, which can make us stronger."

Now, regarding his own identity, Xu Mingsheng has revealed an unexpected frankness: "He is a book dealer". When Utopia was founded, Xu Mingsheng felt embarrassed when he mentioned the name "Utopia" to others. Even though the name embodies the feelings and ambitions of the founding team of Utopia, he still worried that the brand would not be able to bear these three challenges. The social sustenance contained in this word.

On the other hand, a Taiwanese scholar once called the Utopia editorial department, pointing out that the Utopia described by Plato was a world of prison and closed thought, a Soviet-style utopia, and the Communist Party of China once advocated the construction of such an Utopia. Therefore, in order to get rid of the possible negative impact of this name, when thinking about its corresponding English name, after consulting a lot of information, the person in charge of Utopia decided to use "Imagine", "imagining another possibility", Xu Mingsheng said.

"This book cannot be suppressed, it may endanger the country"

"Put the country against the people and emphasize that the prosperity of the country must be based on the ignorance and poverty of the people. This is the core theory of the Shang Yang Reform. The weaker and more stupid the people, the stronger and more stable the country is. This is the essence of the Shang Yang Reform. core logic."

"Two Thousand Years of Qin Dynasty" by Chen Xubin

Xu Mingsheng doesn't like the word "enlightenment".

"'Enlightenment' presupposes that others are ignorant, which is a high-ranking stance. So we later adopted a 'retreat' mentality and changed the editorial policy of Utopia to 'light up'. Like a match lit Finally, although the fire is small, the light can be transmitted. This is just like those books, which are not as powerful as imagined, but the light never disappears."

The "Soviet Trilogy" has been fired up to a price of nearly 1,000 yuan on a second-hand book website. However, Zhou Xiao believes that there are only a few people who are willing to spend thousands of dollars to buy a book. Most of the people watching on the second-hand book website are young people who are curious and want to find out what the "banned book" looks like. .

But the so-called "banned books" are being strangled from the source, and the door to book diversity is being closed.

A staff member of CITIC Publishing House, who did not want to be named, said that in 2022, the publishing house was notified that it was required by relevant departments to increase the proportion of original and new books, which means that the number of books imported from abroad will be reduced.

This information is supported by data. In 2022, the proportion of original and new books in mainland China (referring to the total price of all books) will exceed 30%. "Combined with the tens of thousands of books that will be reduced in 2022, this figure does not reflect the improvement of the original capabilities of China's publishing industry, but the further tightening of book introduction." The above-mentioned staff member said. Regarding the original intention of this operation, he admitted frankly that one of the ways to promote Chinese culture and enhance cultural self-confidence at the national level is to reduce the introduction of foreign books.

In the course of his work, Li Jiaming also clearly noticed that the difficulty of publishing books by American authors and Taiwanese authors was increasing. "The reason can only be guessed. The former is estimated to be due to the Sino-US trade war, and the latter is due to the unstable situation in the Taiwan Strait."

This shows that in mainland China, book publishing is being held back by national sentiment and is faltering.

As an example, the traditional Chinese version of "Revenant Souls: Violence, Disorder, and Death in the Taiping War" written by Tobie Meyer Fong (Chinese translation "Meierqing"), an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University in the United States, was published in June 2020 Published in Taiwan, the copyright of the Simplified Chinese version was purchased by Zhejiang University Press, but it has not been published until the copyright expires in 2022.

The Chinese Communist Party's attitude towards peasant uprisings in Chinese history is not clear, and it is mostly ambiguous and entangled. Peasant uprisings, including the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, were once officially exaggerated as a positive example of the people at the bottom resisting tyranny and oppression. This kind of rhetoric will to a certain extent underline the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party's seizure of power through the peasant movement. However, in recent years, such incidents in which people at the bottom have seized power through violence are no longer respected. Wu Qingxiang believes that this may be the direct reason why the book "The Restless Soul" is difficult to be introduced.

"When the country once again needs to use peasant uprisings to justify the name of the political party or publicize the role of the Communist Party on the battlefield, perhaps this book will be published." The above-mentioned staff member of CITIC Publishing House said.

Compared with unpublishable books, the display of national will is more naked in published books.

In January 2021, the book "The Sinking Age" by American author George Parker was published in mainland China. One year after its publication, it will hit the bestseller lists of major bookstores in 2022. This book describes the impact of the economic recession in the United States on ordinary people, and outlines the lower society in the United States outside of Wall Street, Manhattan and Hollywood.

Regarding the review and popularity of this book, Li Jiaming analyzed that, in addition to the attractiveness of the text presented by the author's excellent expressive ability, this book "catering" to the mainstream narrative of the current country and the mentality of the Chinese people by mistake , that is, "America is not that good", "America is failing", "Americans are living in dire straits", "American democracy is bankrupt".

However, unlike the pursuit of nationalism, it is not difficult to find that a civilized self-reflection is hidden behind the text of this book after reading this book carefully. And a society that can accommodate self-review and adjustment has a strong vitality in itself.

But this reflection was simply ignored. "Our current mainstream orientation is to use other people's self-examination as a weapon to attack the other party. This is putting the cart before the horse." Li Jiaming said.

"Introspection" is a valuable quality in Liu Suli's opinion. "If a nation cannot tolerate criticism and has no ability to introspect, it will be impossible to improve itself, let alone enter the modern society."

In today's Chinese society, "tolerance" and "introspection" are exactly what are missing the most. After the introduction of foreign books becomes more difficult and the review standards become more utilitarian, it is difficult to attack jade from other mountains.

But this did not stop the intellectual community from seeking knowledge.

Also in 2021, "Two Thousand Years of the Qin System" by writer Chen Xubin was published. Once this book was published, it caused heated discussions. In the controversy of mixed praise and criticism, it quickly squeezed into the bestseller list.

The whole book tells about the emperor's power control and the art of controlling the people in the Chinese feudal dynasty from the Qin Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. One of the passages was marked by many readers on the e-reading platform: "The best ruler will make the people feel that he is (because he doesn't do anything at all); the general ruler will make the people like him and praise him (do something good for the people); the bad ruler will make the people fear him (oppress the people with severe punishments) ); the worst ruler will make the people hate him, scold him, curse him (controlling, extracting, persecuting the people with violence)".

People who don't like this book think that the "dichotomy" of this book is too simple and crude, and it does not refine many concepts that need to be informed to readers. Instead, it outputs the author's personal judgment in a preconceived and general way; I like this People in this book believe that the book directly and clearly outlines the way of governing the country of ancient Chinese dynasties, and this way of governing the country and the people has no sense of disobedience in the present. A highly praised comment on this book on Douban, which read "This book can't be controlled, may endanger the country's foundation", has now been deleted.

the art of escaping domination

"In the post-Stalinist period, the state did not ban solipsistic art. The state required each work of art to have a clear political stance. Prohibition was a precondition: the work of art had to be linked to its social context. find their place in it.”

Miklosh Harazti "Velvet Prison"

Regarding the reason why "Two Thousand Years of the Qin Dynasty" was not banned, Zhou Xiao guessed that when the book was selected and reported, the publisher should have classified it as an academic book. "It adopts the same strategy as "Soul Calling". One of the great advantages of publishing it as an academic work is that there are no academic taboos, and all issues are academic issues that can be diverged." He emphasized, "This book focuses on ancient times. history, and does not involve contemporary Chinese history, which is one of the reasons why it can be 'exempted'."

In Li Jiaming's view, this is a must-have packaging skill for book editors. This technique is behind many books.

In 2016, Nobel Prize winner Alekseyevich described the confusion and bewilderment of the Soviets who had been brainwashed for a long time after the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the face of the sudden "liberation", and their spiritual pillar collapsed in an instant. The book "Second-Hand Time" that I helped to publish was published in mainland China. In March 2022, because of the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, this book sparked heated discussions again.

Regarding the "survival" of this book, Li Jiaming believes that this needs to be attributed to the publishing agency's classification of the book as "literature", which has downplayed its political significance.

In his view, this is the role that book editors can play in the gray area. "Using some small tricks to blur the sensitivity of books can be collectively referred to as the art of escaping domination."

For book publishers, learning how to "escape the rule" is a long-term task.

In 2022, a book on women's growth edited by Li Jiaming failed to pass the review. As usual, no one informed them why they were not approved for publication.

After investigating various reasons within the editorial team, they revised the title of the book to cater to the current policy orientation of encouraging women to have children in mainland China. Not surprisingly, this time the book was given permission to publish. But Li Jiaming admitted frankly that the revised title has nothing to do with the actual content of the book. "This is why many times readers feel that the titles of some books are inexplicable, and they have passed the review, and everything is for the review."

In July 2022, Luo Xin, a professor of history at Peking University, published a new book "A Long Remaining Life: A Northern Wei Palace Lady and Her Era", which aroused great attention. Talking about the original intention of writing this book, Luo Xin has emphasized in many interviews that he wants to pay attention to the little people in history, care about the weak, and speak out for the marginalized, instead of staying too much on the emperor.

But a thousand readers have a thousand Hamlets in their hearts. Many readers on Douban questioned his mention of "focusing on little people". The reason is that after reading this book carefully, it is not difficult to find that the Northern Wei court ladies in the title rarely appear on the stage, and the author focuses more on the bloody killings of the Northern Wei royal family. Many members of the royal family, monarchs and ministers compete with each other for power. The tone of the whole book is violent and cruel, revealing that in the face of uncontrolled power, the Confucianism that ancient Chinese dynasties relied on and the "benevolence, forgiveness, sincerity, and filial piety" advocated disappeared.

"Is this alluding to something again?" a reader asked.

In a world where expression is not free, "innuendo" has become a way for readers to seek self-consistent thinking.

In Liu Suli's view, association is an instinctive reaction of readers when reading, but it cannot be presupposed that the author's original intention of writing is to insinuate. "Bad things are inherently bad, and they are bad wherever they are placed. You cannot think that a thing that is bad in other places will become good in you. The only difference between the two is A system can be criticized and cast aside in other places, but it cannot be criticized in your place.”

Liu Suli believes that the essence of books is the study of things, and its task is to reveal the complex aspects, internal mechanisms and logic of things, and inspire and guide readers who have not observed these aspects before. "A good work is to study these things, not to sing praises."

But this also puts forward higher requirements for the intellectuals in China today.

"In difficult times, keeping the bottom line and striving for more good books is not only the needs of readers, but also the needs of a civilized country. This is the value of the existence of intellectuals. If this is not done well, there is nothing to say. It is the dereliction of duty of the intellectual class, and the responsibility cannot be pushed to the times. There have been many dark ages in history, and many people chose to speak out, so they were imprisoned, even hanged, and burned to death. Although this cannot be required now China's intellectuals, but they are the ones who eat this bowl of rice, and they are obliged to do so." Liu Suli said bluntly.

In Xu Mingsheng's memory, the highlight moments of Chinese intellectuals occurred in 2012 and before. At that time, Ren Zhiqiang was still able to pay for the rental of venues, invite Zhu Xueqin and other liberal intellectuals to openly discuss "The Old System and the Great Revolution" recommended by then Vice Premier Wang Qishan, and discuss topics such as revolution and China's open society.

Today, Zhu Xueqin is not allowed to publish books and express opinions publicly. In April 2020, Ren Zhiqiang was sentenced to 18 years in prison by the judiciary for corruption, bribery, embezzlement of public funds, and abuse of power by personnel of state-owned companies. However, compared with the charges against him, the outside world is more inclined to think that this is a political revenge triggered by his public criticism of China's national leaders and related policies.

"Liberation Through Reading"

"As the government began to mobilize and demand that the public follow state-backed institutions and norms, people gradually, to varying degrees, conspired with the government to repress themselves."

Jan Gross, Neighbors: The Demise of the Jewish Community in the Polish Town of Jedwabne

As a student of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, Liu Suli was arrested and imprisoned. After he was released from prison, he founded the Wansheng Book Garden, which is recognized as the bookstore with the most comprehensive collection of ideological books in mainland China.

Everyone who enters the Wansheng Book Garden for the first time will be shocked by the words "Liberation Through Reading" hanging high above the bookshelves. This bold and politically charged slogan is incompatible with the cultural environment in China today.

As for how to define "liberation", Liu Suli explained that after a person has self-awareness, he pursues liberation throughout his life, and liberation in a large sense refers to the process of continuous awakening of the mind, that is, the process of constantly becoming free. In his view, just like the evolution of society and civilization, human evolution also needs to constantly break taboos.

But when taboos are not eliminated, but continue to play a role, the civilization of a society and the people in it will also go in the opposite direction.

"In the face of the great era, individuals are too small and can only be crushed," but Liu Suli also pointed out that if more people work together, they may resist the flood and even change the direction of the tide.

In fact, there are plenty of people who are really trying, just not succeeding.

There is a list of books titled "Copyrighted, but Unpublishable" circulating on Douban, including "The Tragedy of the People: A History of the Russian Revolution 1891-1924" "History of the Russian Revolution: 1891-1991" " Zhivago's Children: Russia's Last Intellectuals"; Oracle Books "Havocland: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin" "Stalin: The Paradox of Power 1878-1928" "Ivan's War: The Life of the Soviet Red Army" and Death 1939-1945", "The Old Man: The Last Years of the Russian Nobility", "Collapse: The Unexpected Opening of the Berlin Wall", "Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar", etc.; and many other publishing houses including "Distant Witnesses A large number of social science books including: Chronicles of the Arab Spring, Lenin's Tomb: The Collapse of a Communist Empire, etc.

Regarding these bibliographies that cannot see the light of day, Xu Mingsheng said: "China's current system is inherited from the Soviet Union. From this perspective, other countries are our mirrors. The roads they have traveled, whether they are successful or failed, of course Most of them are failures and anti-humanity, which can open a window for us to understand ourselves. But unfortunately, these windows are now closed.”

As a book editor, Zhou Xiao believes that he and many practitioners in the book publishing industry have feelings, but at the same time he admits that he has become more and more used to self-censorship and internalized it as a kind of ability.

"We know what books readers want to read, but in China, book publishing is different from other commodities under the market economy model, and the relationship between supply and demand cannot be completely determined by the market. On the contrary, as publishers, especially private publishing for profit As a company, we can only cater to the needs of more general audiences under the premise of ensuring safety."

He once did an arithmetic problem: How much loss will a publishing house bring to a book that has obtained the copyright but cannot be published? "About hundreds of thousands of RMB, including 10,000 to 20,000 US dollars in copyright fees, about 20,000 RMB in translation costs, and about 20,000 RMB in salary for the corresponding responsible editor."

Zhou Xiao's publishing company has already gone public. Under such circumstances, their options are greatly reduced. Publishing profitable books to be responsible to shareholders in the capital market has become an important task for them.

So what kind of book is safe and profitable?

"Ten years ago, 'enlightenment' was the mainstream orientation of society. Now, patriotic business is in full swing, it depends on whether you are willing to do it." Xu Mingsheng said.

A relevant department once extended an olive branch to Xu Mingsheng, asking him if he would like to take over the work of compiling a book on a major national topic, and told him that the income of this work is enough to allow him and his team to earn money within a year. Be full. But he refused, "I haven't fallen to that level yet."

Li Jiaming is worried about the current orientation, "The country does not want the public to have access to more in-depth books. On the contrary, it is happy to see everyone surrounded by short garbage videos, encouraging entertainment consumption, and hoping that more people will be drunk. In other words In other words, groups with chaotic thoughts are more likely to be controlled and manipulated, and this is also the most popular place for beneficiary countries after books disappear." According to statistics, Americans will read an average of 12.6 books in 2022, and China will read 12.6 books in 2021. The latest statistic for 2019 was 4.67.

In Xu Mingsheng's eyes, "senior" is not a good term in the book publishing industry. "'Senior' means that you have experienced the baptism of glory, and it is precisely because of this that too many people tend to indulge in the past and become obsessed."

A more realistic choice is, like Zhou Xiao, relying on the current market demand other than "patriotic" to set publishing goals, "I often visit Xiaohongshu and Douyin to understand what young people are thinking and what they need. ", Xu Mingsheng said.

But Liu Suli chose not to compromise or cater.

As a bookstore that has no commercial promotion and only relies on word of mouth, Liu Suli is quite confident about Wansheng Book Garden, "Many young people know about this place through various channels, and they have experienced a bookstore experience that they have never had before. And then they never go again. And even if these young people go, new people will come in, and together they form our reader base."

What is absurd is that Tsinghua University, the highest institution of higher education in China located on Chengfu Road, Haidian District, Beijing, with Wansheng Book Garden, listed Mao Zedong’s Selected Works for three consecutive years in the official list of library borrowing from 2019 to 2021. at the top of the list. During the opening ceremony of Tsinghua University School of Journalism in 2022, Li Bin, a professor of the school, directly stated that Mao's selected articles are a model for telling Chinese stories well.

In this regard, Wu Qingxiang said with emotion: "The current students are too pitiful. They want to seek a breakthrough in their thinking, but they can only focus on Mao Xuan."

At the request of the interviewees, Wu Qingxiang, Zhou Xiao, Li Jiaming, and Xu Mingsheng were changed to pseudonyms.

Imprisoning the Fire Stealer: The Mainland Edition of the Causeway Bay Bookstore Incident|Old News Reporter

End media reporter Su Xinqi from Hong Kong

2017-02-17

Everything was very sudden. From the time Dai Xuelin was arrested to being sentenced, there was almost no warning beforehand, and the outside world learned about it a long time later. But everything was uneventful. No matter whether he was arrested or sentenced, the mainland media did not report on his case.

This young man born in the 1980s was originally the editor of the marketing department of the famous mainland book brand "Utopia". The brand is sponsored by Guangxi Normal University Press. It is one of the most influential cultural institutions in mainland China in recent years. It has published and promoted many important ideological works.

Part of Dai Xuelin’s verdict circulated on the Internet on February 10 shows that Dai Xuelin was arrested in Beijing on May 19 last year. The sale of Hong Kong and Taiwan books such as "How the Red Sun Rise: The Ins and Outs of the Yan'an Rectification Movement" (hereinafter referred to as "Red Sun") on WeChat constituted "illegal business operations". Dai Xuelin was convicted no later than February 10 this year and sentenced to 5 years in prison.

The case of Dai Xuelin is closely related to the case of the bookstore in Causeway Bay, which has attracted the attention of Hong Kong people, and the case of Yang Hailing, the person in charge of the Shenzhen online bookstore "Yiren.com", who was arrested last year.

The policeman in charge of the area where the "Utopia" office building is located said that the arrest of Dai Xuelin "is not a matter of the Beijing police, it was arrested by people from Zhejiang, and we took them there."

Causeway Bay Bookstore

Relevant insiders revealed to Duan Media that "One Ren.com" is the main supply channel for "Taboo Games", and Causeway Bay Bookstore is one of the sources of "One Ren.com". Last year, Hong Kong's "Apple Daily" reported that in April 2016, the female person in charge of "Yiren.com" living in Shenzhen was arrested, and its official Weibo "Yiren Culture" stopped updating after April 5 of that year.

Up to now, "Yi Ren Net" still cannot be opened normally, and the contact number left on "Yi Ren Culture" is also displayed as an empty number.

The details of Dai Xuelin’s case include that he purchased more than 170,000 yuan of Hong Kong and Taiwan books from Yang Hailing, the person in charge of “Yi Ren. The amount of "things" books exceeds 90,000 yuan. Zhang Xiaoxiong, who handled the same case as Dai Xuelin, was accused of being responsible for purchasing Hong Kong and Taiwan books for Dai Xuelin and mailing them to buyers. The two together sold more than 1,300 Hong Kong and Taiwan books, and the amount of books identified as "illegal publications" exceeded 230,000 yuan.

"This circle is actually quite small," Qu Hantian (pseudonym), who has been operating Hong Kong and Taiwan books through the Internet for nearly 10 years , said to a reporter from Duan Media. I had a problem. After (Yang Hailing) was arrested, someone told me that something happened to Yiren. I found out from many sources that Yiren’s purchase channel is Causeway Bay (bookstore). When something happened to Causeway Bay (bookstore), Yiren was implicated. Come in."

From October to December 2015, five people from Hong Kong's Causeway Bay Bookstore disappeared one after another, shocking public opinion. (See Duan Media’s special topic "Causeway Bay Bookstore" for details.) At the beginning of 2016, the parties Gui Minhai, Lin Rongji, Lu Bo, and Zhang Zhiping were accused of "illegal business operations" by the mainland police. The authorities said they sent more than 4,000 books to 380 book buyers in the mainland. Books, the case has not heard the news.

After Yang Hailing in Shenzhen was arrested in April 2016, no further information has been released about the progress of her case so far.

The office of "Utopia" is Building 26, Xinghua Dongli, Hepingli, Dongcheng District, Beijing. On February 12, a reporter from End Media called the police in charge of the area. The police confirmed on the phone that Dai Xuelin was indeed arrested in May last year, "But this is not a matter of the Beijing police, it was arrested by people from Zhejiang, and we took them there." The reporter asked whether the police in Ningbo, Zhejiang, and why? When Dai Xuelin was arrested and what was the situation at the time of the arrest, the policeman kept saying that it had been too long and he couldn't remember clearly, so he asked the reporter to ask the police in Zhejiang.

In the Causeway Bay bookstore incident, Lin Rongji, Li Bo, Lu Bo, and Zhang Zhiping were also arrested and dealt with by the Ningbo police. Gui Minhai was originally from Ningbo, Zhejiang.

"After the accident on Yiren.com, I also chatted with Mr. Dai on WeChat. At that time, he said that he was worried about Yiren's boss and wondered if he would suffer. He also said that he should keep a low profile."

After Dai Xuelin was taken away, his family kept a low profile and did not accept media interviews. So far, media reporters have not been able to know whether Dai Xuelin has hired a lawyer or filed an appeal.

Less than a week after Dai Xuelin was arrested, on May 22, 2016, Guangxi prosecutors announced that they had decided to arrest He Linxia, ​​the former chairman of Guangxi Normal University Press Group, which belongs to "Utopia", on the grounds that they were suspected of accepting bribes. He Linxia's case has not yet been heard in court.

In November 2015, the agency published the posthumous work "The Realm of History" by Gao Hua, the author of "Red Sun" and a well-known mainland historian, which was requested by the mainland authorities to remove it from the shelves.

In his wife's circle of friends, he seems to be always

"After the incident on Yiren.com, I also chatted with Mr. Dai on WeChat. At that time, he said that he was worried about Yiren's boss and wondered if he would suffer. He also said that he should keep a low profile. The teacher’s circle of friends is not updated.” Lu Jingxi (pseudonym), who is a senior student in a university in Guangdong Province, told a reporter from Duan Media.

Lu Jingxi has known Dai Xuelin through WeChat for two years. Normally, Dai Xuelin would use his personal WeChat account with the same name to deal with the affairs of the "Utopia", and he also paid great attention to cutting its relationship with the "taboo game". In Lu Jingxi's impression, "Dai Xuelin" would only repost a book in "Forbidden Game" if it could not be sold, and would say it was "help repost".

In June 2016, Lu Jingxi asked Dai Xuelin's wife "Beta" (WeChat name) on WeChat, "Why doesn't Teacher Dai use WeChat? Why can't I get in touch recently?" At that time, "Beta" told Lu Jingxi, "Ms. Dai is okay, We are sometimes busy with work, so we can’t see each other.” Later, Lu Jingxi found out that Dai Xuelin had already been arrested at that time.

Ximu, a friend of Dai Xuelin and a member of the cultural circles in mainland China, told Duan Media reporters that they had contacted once when they saw reports that Dai Xuelin lost contact in May 2016 and was confirmed to be taken away by the police in September. Ximu can't remember the exact date, but it should be shortly after it was reported on the Internet that the editor-in-chief of "Utopia" Liu Ruilin was "resigned". Ximu asked Dai Xuelin about this, and Dai Xuelin quickly replied, "Although there are turmoil, everything is fine, don't worry about it, don't worry about it." Ximu asked again, Dai Xuelin stopped making a sound.

On the "Utopia" community page "Ideal Home Community", there was such a group of questions and answers 8 months ago. Netizens asked "each other": "Where is Dai Xuelin, the operating officer of Utopia? I haven't heard from him for a long time. Is everything going well? Is he still working in Utopia?" "River" replied: "Xuelin recently had a Personal matters, I will not be here for a while, and I will come back later, thank you for your concern!"

On February 12, Zhang Yihe, a well-known writer, revealed through his personal microblog that at the end of 2016, he received a letter from "Little D" from the detention center, asking Zhang "I don't know how you spent your time in prison".

After the news of Dai Xuelin’s sentencing was publicly reported, on February 12, Zhang Yihe, a well-known writer, revealed through his personal microblog that at the end of 2016, he had received a letter from “Little D” from the detention center, saying that he had registered his marriage with his girlfriend in March of that year. , originally planned to hold the ceremony in September, and asked Zhang to be the witness of the marriage. Unexpectedly, in May, he "went in by himself" and asked Zhang, "I don't know how you spent your time in prison."

Her husband, who was newly married for less than two months, was arrested. Afterwards, posts of "showing affection" appeared in "Beta"'s circle of friends from time to time. "It's the kind of showing affection in quotation marks," Lu Jingxi said. .”

On October 31, 2016, "Beta" posted a selfie photo of her and Dai Xuelin. "Beta" wearing a red wool hat was behind Dai Xuelin, holding his arm. Dai Xuelin had short hair and wore rectangular thick-rimmed glasses , the photo is bright with sunshine, blue sky and white clouds, and the two are smiling gently at the camera. The accompanying text of "Beta" is "I will always love you."

On January 16 this year, "Beta" posted three photos of Dai Xuelin, saying that "the three photos are of him in 2011, 2014 and now", and jokingly said, "His colleague said that after being with me, he would wear this Clothing taste has improved a lot, um, he is much handsomer, hahaha.” In the photo that is alleged to be “him now”, Dai Xuelin is wearing a shirt, a sweater, and a pair of rectangular thick-rimmed glasses, but it’s hard to get away from it. The image judges the shooting time.

Less than a month later, on February 10, Dai Xuelin was accused of selling illegal publications. Lu Jingxi said that the "Beta" circle of friends was invisible to her that day.

In the summer of 2016, online shopping of Hong Kong and Taiwan books became the target of strict investigation by the authorities

"So angry, so sad, so wronged!" This is Lu Jingxi's series of reactions after learning that Dai Xuelin was sentenced to 5 years in prison, "This is really dark humor. Teacher Dai sold Chinese people in China and wrote another Chinese The book was actually sentenced."

Although they are regarded as "banned books" by the mainland, Lu Jingxi's observation is that there are many ways to get these so-called "banned books". Compared with high-priced physical books, e-books are more widely spread. "I used to see that people on Douban often used 'Baidu Cloud' to share this kind of book. So, seeing Teacher Dai sentenced to five years for such a 'banned book' that is not a small group, I feel very wronged."

Lawyer Zeng of Guangdong Sanhuan Huihua Law Firm, who specializes in copyright law, told Duan Media that theoretically, in mainland China, as long as it is not published by a publishing unit approved by the Chinese government, it cannot be used for profit-making distribution in the mainland. "Illegal publications" are generally divided into three categories, one is piracy and infringement, the other is pornographic and violent, and the other is political issues, such as subverting state power and undermining national unity. "If the content in the book, To use a term during the Cultural Revolution to describe it as 'reactionary', it is very opposed to the current regime and politics, this is definitely (belonging to illegal publications), whether it is bought, sold, carried or possessed, it is suspected of breaking the law."

Lawyer Zeng said that Hong Kong and Taiwan bookstores on the e-commerce platform itself are an ambiguous area in the mainland judiciary. The shopkeeper is responsible for collecting and distributing profit, "but this process is very difficult to define."

According to media reporters, from the beginning of March to the beginning of July last year, there were many cases in mainland China. Individuals who owned books published by Hong Kong and Taiwan were asked to confiscate them, or called for interviews, or asked to take photos for backup, or asked to assist in the investigation. , or accused of "suspected purchase and storage of illegal publications". Most of their books are obtained through online shopping or purchasing agents. Some of them involve politics, or cannot be published in the mainland, and some are just literary sketches, and there are also editions in the mainland. The parties in these cases were very cautious when asked about the Hong Kong and Taiwan books that provoked the police.

Mr. Cheng said that in the summer of 2016, the police followed the customer list of "Yiren.com" to conduct subpoenas and inquiries in many places across the country. "It took more than a month before and after." ".

On March 4, 2016, a total of 5 people from the Jiangdong District Culture, Radio, Press and Publishing Bureau of Ningbo City and the police entered the office of lawyer Yuan Yulai. The visitor brought in a package and opened it on the spot. Inside were 14 Hong Kong and Taiwan books that Yuan Yulai bought through Taobao. The visitor accused Yuan Yulai of being "suspected of buying and storing illegal publications", and made notes on the spot, and 14 books were seized as "evidence".

On July 4th, a netizen named "Xiaozhai Sangnong" posted on Weibo asking for help: "The police came to my door just now to confiscate this book I bought on Taobao." ——"Night at Night" published by Oxford University Press and written by Dong Qiao see". At noon on July 6, "Xianzhai Sangnong" posted on Weibo again, saying: "I just came back from the police station, and the book is temporarily reserved for academic research needs and the rights and interests of a good-faith third party."

In the early morning of July 7, all Weibo messages about the "book collection" incident of "Cocoon Zhai Sangnong" disappeared—the page shows that the author deleted it. In the morning of the same day, a reporter from Duan Media contacted "Xianzhai Sangnong" by phone, and he kept saying: "The matter has been resolved, and I have nothing to say, okay..."

On the evening of July 5, Lin Daoqun, editor-in-chief of the Popular Publishing Department of Oxford University Press China, forwarded another netizen "-aller-" on Weibo: "It is said that there are many Hong Kong and Taiwan books on Taobao and other places. The owner of the store was investigated, and then he went to the book buyer to confiscate the book according to the computer's purchase records, and the police station dispatched it, all in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Guangdong, and it was going to affect the whole country."

Also on July 5th, at 1:00 noon, netizen "Te5la" posted on Weibo: "The police station called just now, a mobile phone number called, saying that I bought a book on a certain day in a certain month last year (the date should be pretty good) Accurate, my name and the address of the police station are clearly stated), the book seller has been dealt with, and asking me to take the book to the police station seems to be to back up and take pictures to keep the data. I thought about it, it should be the Oxford "The Biography of Chu Anping" published by the university and "China in Ten Words" by Yu Hua."

Mr. Cheng from Quzhou, Zhejiang also told a reporter from Duan Media about a similar situation, but the source of the police list was more specific to "One Ren Net". Mr. Cheng originally opened a bookstore in Guangzhou, closed it in early 2015, and returned to his hometown of Quzhou, but still purchased books for friends and regular customers, including buying "twenty or thirty books" from "Yiren.com" in early 2016. I can't remember the exact number. "Books.

Mr. Cheng said that in the summer of 2016, the police followed the customer list of "Yiren.com" to conduct subpoenas and inquiries in many places across the country. "It took more than a month before and after." ". On July 6 of that year, the local police in Quzhou called Mr. Cheng and asked him to go to the police station to explain the situation.

Mr. Cheng said that the police were very polite and did not specifically mention the specific bibliography, because his books had already changed hands and were not confiscated. The whole process "maybe took half an hour." Mr. Cheng did not want to talk about the specific situation at that time. "There are many places in the country. I am a small place here. I have nothing to say. Don't cause trouble."

Bookseller who was copied: self-censorship, politics and history

A few years ago, Qu Hantian, who runs Hong Kong and Taiwan books in the mainland, was forced to hand over the list of book buyers to law enforcement officers.

It was one morning, 7 or 8 unidentified people knocked on the door of his house, and then confiscated all the books in the house, including his computer. Qu Hantian was taken to the local cultural bureau, and was told at that time that the "law enforcement personnel" included people from the industrial and commercial department and the cultural law enforcement department. Qu Hantian estimated that there were also national security or national security personnel among them. He was detained by the Cultural Bureau for 5 hours, "doing an investigation, saying that I sold Hong Kong and Taiwan books, illegal publications, and took a 'law education class'. Now it is completely intimidating. There is a crime in the mainland called inciting subversion (inciting subversion) state power), I didn’t know there was illegal business at that time, so I said how many years could be sentenced for incitement.”

Before he was released, Qu Hantian was forced to hand over the list of buyers. "My computer was confiscated."

Qu Hantian had more than a thousand books confiscated, including dozens of Hong Kong and Taiwan books. The authorities only showed him a written certificate about the confiscation of these properties, but did not let him keep this document. The confiscated Hong Kong and Taiwan books included a book about Mao Zedong - but he can't remember the name, and "Reform History" by Zhao Ziyang, the former general secretary of the Communist Party of China. Qu Hantian said that when he entered the business, he read this book. "The history of mainland studies and the introduction in Hong Kong and Taiwan books are quite confusing. I think it can make money, but it can pass on information. .”

"If it weren't for my own so-called feelings and ideas in it, with this thought and time, I would have done other fucking jobs."

After being ransacked, Qu Hantian still mainly sells Hong Kong and Taiwan books on the Internet, but began to sell some "relatively peaceful" ones. Although he may have earned four to five thousand yuan less a month by not selling the "banned books" that are in short supply, he moved away After leaving that city, he has not been found by the authorities so far.

He said that after the Hong Kong Causeway Bay Bookstore incident, he obviously felt nervous, "The nervousness was not given to me by the outside world, but I was more nervous in my heart. After all, I also made books and walked in a gray area. Although I always wanted to Closer to the white zone, this thing is very flexible, and you don’t know when something will happen.” He said, intending to “not touch politics and history at all”, “Do it in a way of self-censorship, book selection At that time, if there is a slight sign, it will not be done if it involves Chinese politics."

Dai Xuelin did not "turn around in time". In November 2015, "Taboo Game" said in Moments: "If it weren't for my own so-called feelings and ideas in it, with this thought and time, I would have done other fucking things."

In May 2016, Dai Xuelin was arrested, and in February 2017, Dai Xuelin was sentenced, but the mainland media could not find a single word.

And "Criminal Scene" - the "Forbidden Game" circle of friends that has not been updated for a long time, the bottom says: "Ah, but silent."

sound

Sensitive characters are everywhere, and a simple post makes it extra sensitive.

Dai Xuelin Douban diary, April 22, 2009

Anyone who spreads pornographic text messages will be punished. Disgusting, do you need a reason? From a developmental point of view, disgusting things will happen one after another.

Dai Xuelin Douban Diary, January 19, 2010

Here, I may make a small wish: as long as I know that the mainland version of a certain work is a "castrated version", even if it has already been published in Hong Kong and Taiwan, I will buy it without hesitation, especially those publishing houses that are pursuing it. Just because you dance in chains.

Dai Xuelin Douban Diary, May 6, 2010

If it is in a society ruled by law, there will not be so many knights; in other words, if knights are popular, then this country must not be a country ruled by law. Under the current situation, traditional knights have lost the soil for survival; and I have also seen that real knights have less "action" and more "qi" of knights.

Dai Xuelin Douban diary, November 11, 2010

Mom, I'm hungry, what should I use to fill my stomach, the refrigerator is empty. Dad, my throat hurts, and I want to gulp down water, but there is only a little water left.

Dai Xuelin Douban Diary, May 26, 2011

"How the Red Sun Rised"

Chinese historian Gao Hua (1954-2011) wrote the ins and outs of the Yan’an Rectification Movement, the first large-scale political movement within the CCP led by Mao Zedong himself, through more than ten years of research. The two methods of ideological remolding and trial of cadres and elimination of counter-revolutionaries” and how a series of concepts and paradigms produced in this movement “changed the lives and destiny of hundreds of millions of Chinese people after 1949.” The study was published by the Chinese University of Hong Kong Press in 2000 and has been reprinted dozens of times so far. The publishing house introduced this book as "the only historical work at home and abroad that comprehensively studies the Yan'an rectification movement." The book has not been published in the mainland, but an insider in the Hong Kong and Taiwan book business in the mainland said that the demand for this book has been strong. It is said that "the original price is 165 RMB, and when it sells for nearly 300 (RMB), some people are willing to buy it." In 2002, mainland lawyer Zhu Yuantao was confiscated by customs when he was carrying "Red Sun" when he entered the country at Beijing Capital Airport. Zhu took this to court, claiming that the book was a rigorous work on party history and did not meet the criteria for identifying "illegal publications." After losing the first trial, Zhu continued to appeal, and the Beijing Higher Court finally ruled in favor of him, but the reason was that the procedures for the customs to impose penalties were unclear and did not involve the determination of the nature of the book.

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Original: "Imprisoning the Fire Stealer: The Mainland Edition of the Causeway Bay Bookstore Incident" https://theinitium.com/article/20170217-mainland-daixuelin/?utm_medium=copy

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