Post by con's fly is open on Mar 28, 2005 12:31:24 GMT 7
Anyone heard of this?
Sexy political satire banned by Chinese officials
Last Updated Sun, 27 Mar 2005 17:56:39 EST
CBC Arts
BEIJING - Chinese authorities have banned a sexy satiric story set during the Cultural Revolution and ordered all copies of the magazine in which it was published seized.
Serve the People was featured in the latest issue of the well-regarded literary magazine City of Flowers. Censors had already cut 50,000 words of its original 90,000-word length.
They had second thoughts about its publication and had all 30,000 copies of the magazine impounded this week.
The story by best-selling writer Yan Lianke tells the tale of a steamy affair between the young, beautiful wife of an old army general and his aide.
In one scene, the lovers smash up images of Mao Zedong and other symbols of the Cultural Revolution before taking part in unbridled passion.
The novel is set in 1967, during the peak of Mao's reign. During the Cultural Revolution, defacing an image of Mao was punishable by death. He is still highly revered in China and his face appears on banknotes; a giant portrait of him looms over Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
The propaganda department is quoted as saying the novella "slanders Mao Zedong, the army and, is overflowing with sex."
Serve the People was also serialized over the internet. Supporters of the story describe it as a subversive critique of corruption and the insanity of the Cultural Revolution. Yan has said that he's not surprised by the ban, adding that sex is taboo in China.
One of the author's earlier novels, Shouhou (Feeling Good), was also banned. It's the story of a rural official who rents Lenin's corpse to promote tourism.
Sexy political satire banned by Chinese officials
Last Updated Sun, 27 Mar 2005 17:56:39 EST
CBC Arts
BEIJING - Chinese authorities have banned a sexy satiric story set during the Cultural Revolution and ordered all copies of the magazine in which it was published seized.
Serve the People was featured in the latest issue of the well-regarded literary magazine City of Flowers. Censors had already cut 50,000 words of its original 90,000-word length.
They had second thoughts about its publication and had all 30,000 copies of the magazine impounded this week.
The story by best-selling writer Yan Lianke tells the tale of a steamy affair between the young, beautiful wife of an old army general and his aide.
In one scene, the lovers smash up images of Mao Zedong and other symbols of the Cultural Revolution before taking part in unbridled passion.
The novel is set in 1967, during the peak of Mao's reign. During the Cultural Revolution, defacing an image of Mao was punishable by death. He is still highly revered in China and his face appears on banknotes; a giant portrait of him looms over Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
The propaganda department is quoted as saying the novella "slanders Mao Zedong, the army and, is overflowing with sex."
Serve the People was also serialized over the internet. Supporters of the story describe it as a subversive critique of corruption and the insanity of the Cultural Revolution. Yan has said that he's not surprised by the ban, adding that sex is taboo in China.
One of the author's earlier novels, Shouhou (Feeling Good), was also banned. It's the story of a rural official who rents Lenin's corpse to promote tourism.
