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China Books & Literature

The Price of Writing Smut: Inside China’s Crackdown on Erotic Fiction

The crackdown on Haitang Literature City has led to greater awareness of it, with Chinese netizens now paying closer attention to the repression of erotic content and the struggles faced by its authors.

Ruixin Zhang

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A recent crackdown on Chinese authors writing erotic webnovels has sparked increased online conversations about the Haitang Literature ‘Flower Market’ subculture, the challenges faced by prominent online smut writers, and the evolving regulations surrounding digital erotica in China. But how serious is the “crime” of writing explicit fiction China today?

You might have heard of haitang(海棠), the Chinese crabapple flower, but chances are you haven’t come across Haitang Literature City (海棠文学城)—and you’re not…

Ruixin is a Leiden University graduate, specializing in China and Tibetan Studies. As a cultural researcher familiar with both sides of the 'firewall', she enjoys explaining the complexities of the Chinese internet to others.

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3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. JJ

    November 7, 2024 at 7:42 pm

    Hello! Is there anything that we can do from overseas to help the authors or improve this horrible situation?

  2. Pingback: Hay un movimiento clandestino de mujeres chinas leyendo literatura erótica homosexual. Y China lo está reprimiendo – hardmoneylendersmelbourne

  3. Pingback: Hay un movimiento clandestino de mujeres chinas leyendo literatura erótica homosexual. Y China lo está reprimiendo « SerNoticias.com.mx

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China Arts & Entertainment

The Reunification with Taiwan is Hitting Chinese Cinemas This Summer

A new state-backed epic about the Qing conquest of Taiwan is stirring debate. Plus: the Shanxi mine disaster, a controversial prison film, hukou reform, and China’s top 5 rising books.

Manya Koetse

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🔥 China Trend Watch (Week 21–22 | 2026) Part of Eye on Digital China by Manya Koetse, China Trend Watch is an overview of what’s trending and being discussed on Chinese social media.


In this edition:

  • China’s upcoming Taiwan reunification blockbuster
  • 8 Quick Scrolls to Know
  • The Liushenyu coal mine disaster exposes hidden tunnels, “yin-yang maps,” and systemic safety failures
  • A controversial prison film starring a convicted killer is pulled from cinemas
  • China announces major…
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China Arts & Entertainment

Su Chao Fever, Mo Yan’s “Scrollable” Book, and Why Li Xiaoran is China’s New Office Icon

This week in China: Grassroots football fever, a Nobel laureate writes for the TikTok era, France’s cultural relic bill, and a 19-year-old’s blind box obsession bankrupts her father’s company.

Manya Koetse

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🔥 China Trend Watch (week 16/17 | 2026) Part of Eye on Digital China by Manya Koetse, China Trend Watch is an overview of what’s trending and being discussed on Chinese social media.

Dear reader,

Hope you’re having a good week. Time for an update on what’s been trending.

In this newsletter:

👉Victor Hugo’s day has come
👉China’s grassroots football couldn’t get more viral
👉A scrollable new book by Mo Yan
👉The Chinese office meme of the moment

..and more.

Let’s dive in.

Quick Scroll

    • 📱 China’s National Security Ministry has joined Chinese Tiktok app Douyin. The high-profile Douyin debut is part of a broader trend of Chinese government agencies and security bodies joining the app.
    • 🐺 A feel-good wildlife story from Inner Mongolia: a pregnant wild wolf descended from the mountains to give birth at a wildlife conservation station where she had been previously fed. The noteworthy move shows she had apparently developed trust in the station workers, and felt safe there.
    • 🐖 Pork prices hit historic lows but spare ribs still cost 20 yuan (US$3) – this became a topic of discussion this week. Despite the drop in pig prices, retail pork still feels expensive because added costs across the supply chain haven’t changed.
    • 🍿 Movie alert. The May Day (五一) cinema content explosion is incoming. Seventeen films have already been slotted for the Golden Week holiday window.
    • 🚔 A 31-year-old man from Guangzhou has been detained under anti-cyberbullying regulations after repeatedly posting insulting comments targeting Olympic champion diver Quan Hongchan (全红婵) on WeChat.
    • 🤖 Unitree’s humanoid robot is almost as fast as Usain Bolt. The company announced that the H1 humanoid robot achieved a peak sprint speed of 10 meters per second during a 100-meter test.
    • ⚡️ Another robot, “Lightning” (闪电) by Honor, also went viral because he won the Beijing Yizhuang Half Marathon on Sunday, April 19, running a half-marathon distance faster than any human ever has, completing it in 50 minutes and 26 seconds (the human record: 56:42). (See video here).
    • 🎁 A 19-year-old woman from Zhengzhou has made headlines for allegedly embezzling around 17 million yuan (nearly $2.5 million) from her father’s company, spending it on blind boxes and livestream tipping (dashang 打赏). Her father, now bankrupt, ended up taking his daughter to the police himself.

What Really Stood Out

The Jiangsu Super League (Su Chao) Fever

[#苏超开幕式] [#何润东项羽造型亮相苏超观后感#]

The Jiangsu…

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