Translating/Selling My China Book in China

[Angelina]

It is not exactly the best idea to go against reason. If you know something is illegal, you have to also know that doing it might get you in jail. I don't encourage people to do that. 

 

@imron can you give us a link? I can't use the search option right now (powered by Google)

 

@Lu Some blogs and books that write on these sensitive topics, their purpose is to write on sensitive topics. They have seen how a certain government reacts to a certain event and they are somehow deliberately trying to provoke the government. 

 

What is strange to me are these sensitive topics. What topics are sensitive? To be honest, I think that pretty much anything can be connected with anything. No matter what I say, there is the possibility that my words can be taken out of context. Imagine I write how my brother (89年出生的, only one year my junior) came to visit me in Beijing, I wanted to show him around, so we took bus number 64 and went to Tian'anmen. 

 

That is why I think people should not fear censorship. You don't know what is it exactly that authorities don't want to see published. Deng Xiaoping was not popular for a while. Zhang Ailing was also not popular because she was involved with the Japanese, until she wasn't a sensitive topic anymore. I agree with her approach anyway

 

http://www.chinafile.com/politics-and-chinese-language

 

 

Laughlin raises a related question about art under censorship: Isn’t it possible to live under political censorship and just ignore it—not obeying, not defying, not satirizing, but writing about the very large areas of life where the authorities don’t care and therefore you don’t have to distort anything and don’t have to worry? He cites examples of Zhou Zuoren, Liang Shiqiu [Liang Shih-chiu], and Zhang Ailing, who wrote essays and stories in the 1930s and 1940s that did not, except occasionally and tangentially, have anything to do with the Japanese invasion of China. The Japan issue dominated most other Chinese writers at the time, either because they lived under Japanese censorship or because, living in free China, the imperative of resistance was so strong. Laughlin asks a good question, and the three writers he names establish his point that political pressures (unless they are severe, as during the late Mao years) need not exterminate excellent writing.

 

(This article needs a new topic, I don't necessarily agree with the views expressed there) 

 

 

Why not write and publish? Ignore censorship, you don't know what might be censored. Anything can be taken out of context. Unless you are trying to defy censorship, everything will probably be fine. 

[imron]

Sure.  Here's the first one that popped up.

[Lu]

That is why I think people should not fear censorship. You don't know what is it exactly that authorities don't want to see published.

What you appear to be saying is that if you're not sure if something is a sensitive topic (or if you know it is), you should go ahead and write about it, because who knows, perhaps it's not sensitive anymore and you won't lose your job, end up in jail, be disappeared, have your family put under house arrest, find yourself forced to flee the country, have thugs follow you around, have thugs follow your family around, or some other unpleasant consequence?

Some people share your point of view, but do you really believe this is something everyone should do as a matter of course? Would you do that? Do you know what happened to Liu Xiaobo, Liu Xia, Hu Jia, Zeng Jinyan, Hu & Zeng's daughter (born in 2008 or so), Chen Guangcheng, Ilham Tohti, and dozens if not hundreds of other people? Would you want that to happen to you, or your family and friends?

[Angelina]

 

Liu Xiaobo, Liu Xia, Hu Jia, Zeng Jinyan, Hu & Zeng's daughter (born in 2008 or so), Chen Guangcheng, Ilham Tohti, and dozens if not hundreds of other people? Would you want that to happen to you, or your family and friends? 

 

 

Pavlos Fyssas?

 

I'm from Macedonia, former Yugoslavia, former Ottoman-freaking-Empire. Part of my family is originally from the occupied Greek part, where crazy Nazi Golden Dawn will do the same to me were I to go to Athens and provoke them (like what those bloggers are doing in China). This Golden Dawn Party has THREE members in the European Parliament. They are much bigger threat to my life than the CCP. I don't even want to talk about Macedonian minority rights in the EU. How my family was not allowed to go back home because they were not 'Greek by blood'.

 

I can't understand how citizens of the EU can allow for Nazi people to be in their Parliament (I am talking about people who have been involved in murders and who can kill me if I tried to provoke them). I am afraid of the EU much more than I am afraid of the CCP. 

 

However, I don't want to accuse anyone. I don't want to have an anti-EU blog, or an anti-China blog. We should all love each other. 

 

Why would I want to do this?

 

 

 

News articles revealed that her subversive cyber crimes, committed under the screen name, "Stainless Steel Mouse", were mainly criticisms of renewed restrictions on Internet cafes, a plea for more freedom of expression on the Internet and - oh, yes - a satire of the Chinese Communist Party.

 

 

The problem with China is that I really don't know what topics are sensitive. I am trying not to be afraid because, as I have said, anything can be taken out of context and if people want to accuse me of something, they will find a way to do it. The best solution is to ignore censorship, not let it control our lives. Don't defy it, don't fight it, don't resort to self-censorship! 

[Lu]

The problem with China is that I really don't know what topics are sensitive.

Perhaps read up on that a bit then. There are no exact lists (that's a feature not a bug), but there is plenty of information on the general idea.

Your situation and that of your family sounds bad, and I sympathise. Nazis are scary, especially if people don't call them out and even vote them into parliament. But since you know from experience what oppression looks like, surely you see why Chinese people have such a hard time with it. Of course the powers-that-be in your own country are a lot more relevant and threatening to you than the CCP is: you're not Chinese, they can't get to you. But for Chinese people, the CCP is nearby and scary and it can get to you. The CCP is a lot more dangerous to a Chinese dissident than Golden Dawn is to you. I'm not trying to have you play the Oppression Olympics, but surely you can sympathise.

Or to put it differently: would you write an opinion article in a major Greek newspaper on why the Golden Dawn is wrong and dangerous and we should all oppose them? If not, chances are your reasons are the same reasons many Chinese are careful not to get on the wrong side of censorship.

[Angelina]

Perhaps read up on that a bit then. There are no exact lists (that's a feature not a bug), but there is plenty of information on the general idea.

 

The general idea is fear 

 

 

I'm not trying to have you play the Oppression Olympics, but surely you can sympathise.

 

Yes, everything starts with the Oppression Olympics (you know Mount Olympus ). Really, it all starts with how the Other is evil and MORE oppressive than We are. Is China worse than Guantanamo?  

 

I can definitely empathize with the Uyghur minority in China. My family was ruled by Turkish-speaking Ottomans for 500 years, now Turkish-speaking Uyghurs are ruled by China. It can't be easy to be oppressed. We had a terrible tax imposed on us. Who knows if anything similar is happening in China at the moment. I hope it's not like that.

 

I try to look on the bright side. You can watch this show. Great music. 

 

 http://www.kumi.cn/donghua/68313_1.html

 

In China this character is called 阿凡提 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasreddin, the same character can be found in Macedonian folklore. 

Instead of talking about politicians, we should talk about normal people. 

 

I feel free to say anything I want. How can I know if anything I say is a sensitive topic? I don't know much about dissidents. Why would I want to be one?

 

Or to put it differently: would you write an opinion article in a major Greek newspaper on why the Golden Dawn is wrong and dangerous and we should all oppose them? If not, chances are your reasons are the same reasons many Chinese are careful not to get on the wrong side of censorship.

 

No.

 

I believe there are better ways to fight it. 

 

Besides, look what happened to 左蓝 in episode 1.

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/21418-first-episode-50-潜伏/

 

 

In short, I don't believe in self-censorship. OP can do what he wants. If he feels this will conflict with whatever rules exist in China, it is up to him to decide. 

[BrandonF]

Wow. I found the right forum to ask this question. Thanks for all your insights!
 

[Angelina]

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/34866-reading-yu-huas-to-live/?p=358890

 

https://www.goodreads.com/interviews/show/1001.Yu_Hua

 

GR: When readers and writers face censorship, satires and veiled critiques of the political system become all the more delicious. I know that there was some worry that The Seventh Day wouldn't be allowed to be published in China, but as an American reader, it's hard to see what could be offensive in the book. Why do you think some feared it would be censored, and what does it mean that it wasn't? 

YH: Some Chinese readers of The Seventh Day were surprised that it could be published, and I think it is the critical tone of the book that caused that reaction. When I had just finished writing the book, I, too, thought it possible it might run into difficulties. Some publishing houses in China did decline to take it on, but China has a lot of publishers, and one of them had the courage to publish it. Now over a year has passed since the book's release in China, and it has not been banned. I feel I've been lucky, but beyond that I don't know what more to say.

 

 

I am sorry for going off a tangent to prove a point. I hope I will be able to find your book in China. The 'democratic West'/ 'evil China' dichotomy does not exist, fear not! 

Here is what reality looks like. 

[Lu]

One book not being banned does, unfortunately, not prove that censorship in China is not a problem. You are aware that other books have been banned?

BrandonF: I hope you found enough useful information in between the censorship discussion. Do come back if you have more questions.

[Angelina]

One book not being banned does, unfortunately, not prove that censorship in China is not a problem. You are aware that other books have been banned?

 

Yes I am aware that censorship exists. I was once reading a Guardian article on censorship in China. Surprisingly enough, one of the comments on the article had been removed by the Guardian. 

 

Surely, one comment being banned does not prove how censorship is a problem in 'the West'. 

 

Then they destroyed the Snowden files. Surely, two cases of censorship do not prove that the Guardian is a highly censored medium. Nor does this prove how censorship is a huge problem in 'Western countries' .

 

I am still reading the Guardian, still reading Chinese books, and refusing to censor my views that China is not the boogeyman. 

 

Also, a few years ago, I had a couple of friends who had their own student newspaper. One of their sponsors was the US Embassy in my country. When they wanted to publish an article on student protests in the UK, the US Embassy censored this and told them they can't publish the article. They did not have the courage to fight it,  and agreed not to publish the article. 

 

So yes, I am aware that articles have been banned by the US Embassy in my country. Yet, I won't go around saying how censorship is a huge problem in the US, and how they are a terrible country. What I can do is:  to be free to say whatever I want, not to self-censor myself for fear of censorship, and if it happens one day, not to give in. 

[realmayo]

You can do that, lots of people can't. Many of those people who can't, live in China. 

[Angelina]

I live in China now. 

[realmayo]

I know.

 

Hasty edit: I know because you've said so earlier!

[Angelina]

Peace!

[Lu]

Came across an interesting article today by Peter Hessler, which touches upon all the things mentioned in this thread: book publishing in China, in particular books on China by foreigners, and censorship.

[realmayo]

Interesting.

 

More than any other editor, Zhang has tapped into this trend—all but one of his six best-selling titles in the past few years have been foreign books about China.

[Angelina]

"In the opening page, I wrote, “There was no railroad in Fuling. It had always been a poor part of Sichuan Province and the roads were bad."

I am in a remote Tibetan village with no railroad, no roads, and I actually asked locals where the toilet is.

Anyway.