THREAD: China’s media regulator is now requiring real-name registration for authors of online literature as authorities move to ensure that publishing platforms gravitate toward content with a “positive and healthy tone.”
Per @SixthTone’s arts & culture reporter @Xiguaken: 1/
Per @SixthTone’s arts & culture reporter @Xiguaken: 1/
Publishers of online literature must assume greater responsibility for their domains. In addition to embracing real names and healthy tones, they should control output, manage bestseller lists and top comments, and discourage overly homogeneous content. 2/ xinhuanet.com/politics/2020-…
Government publishing authorities at all levels will be required to establish teams to oversee the online literature platforms registered within their jurisdictions. Authorities should also punish or reward online publishers based on assessments of their “social impact.” 3/
Real-name registration has creeped into virtually every corner of civilian life in China, from taking intercity public transport and getting a phone number to registering a new social media account and gunning down opponents in PUBG. 4/
Online literature has grown into a booming industry in China since emerging around 2005. As of last year, the genre boasted some 17.6 million authors and over 450 million readers in the country. 5/ literature.cssn.cn/wlwhywx_2173/2…
Most of China’s online fiction writers adopt pen names — a tradition with deep roots in Chinese culture. The literary heavyweight Zhou Shuren, better known as #LuXun, used over 100 of them. 6/ 
Although the new policy will only require publishing platforms to register — and not publicly display — authors’ real names, some Weibo users have objected to what they perceive as an attack on their privacy. (Unsurprisingly, most of these comments have now been deleted.) 7/
Real-name registration for China’s internet writers isn’t new: It was nominally required as early as January 2015. The earlier guidelines had come in response to Xi Jinping’s call for artists to “spread Chinese values” through their works and not be slaves to market demand. 8/
Since then, China’s biggest online publishers have implemented real-name registration for writers, but many smaller publishing platforms — which are more likely to plagiarize content and push the boundaries of permissible themes — still haven’t. 9/
In China, publishing online literature that the authorities find offensive can have serious consequences. In 2018, a writer known as Tianyi was sentenced to over 10 years in prison for publishing gay erotica: 10/ sixthtone.com/news/1003223/g…
This week, several internet writers have complained about what they view as yet another step toward an Orwellian future that will only harm China’s online literature industry. 11/
In a deleted online post, a writer for Jinjiang Literature City, one of China’s largest literature sites, argued that the industry has thrived by allowing quality content to naturally rise to the surface in a vast sea of mediocrity—not through curation or editorial promotion. 12/
“Who has the eyes to comb out all the sand, leaving only the gold?” wrote the author. “A lot of small authors churn out one novel after the other, slowly transitioning from sand to gold. If you don’t let them be sand, how can they ever become gold?” 13/ weibo.com/u/1044247277
Romance writer Tian Qi Brother told @Xiguaken that she is already registered by name and doesn’t mind: Pseudonyms will remain useful for keeping writers’ identities secret, she said, and protecting them from doxxing, or “human flesh searching,” as the term is known in China. 14/
According to Tian Qi Brother, the Chinese authorities’ control over internet literature has become noticeably stricter in recent years, which has in turn dulled creativity and diversity. 15/
“It’s always the same stupid, sappy romance story,” she said. “Very few web novels have original ideas or concepts, because there’s a lot that they don’t allow you to write. There are limitations, and people are afraid of getting into trouble.” 16/
Tian Qi Brother provided a list of Jinjiang Literature City’s banned themes: animal-human romance, dark retellings of fairy tales, protagonists with “improper professions,” certain events in modern history, human trafficking, religious content, and student-teacher intimacy. 17/
While some sexual content is still allowed, it must pass an approval process, she said. 18/
Zhi Qingyu, who has also written several online novels, told @Xiguaken that she’s generally supportive of real-name registration as long as her personal details aren’t leaked by the publishing platform… 19/
…as it might encourage online authors to give more thought to what they write and temper their sensational plots.
However, she said she’d still prefer an age-appropriate grading system over the blanket real-name registration rule. 20/end
However, she said she’d still prefer an age-appropriate grading system over the blanket real-name registration rule. 20/end
