Chinese Writer Sentenced to 10 Years in Jail for Writing Gay Erotica
Yet ironically, Chinese artists and writers have been producing pornography for centuries!
In 2018 a Chinese novelist known as “Tianyi” was sentenced to 10 years in prison for writing and distributing — of all things — a homoerotic novel.
Her severe sentence provoked widespread debate throughout China on the issue of pornography. After all, pornography was traditionally a taboo subject in the Middle Kingdom.
Tianyi’s novel “Occupy” was described by police as depicting “obscene sexual behaviour between males”. Her defenders meanwhile described it as an accurate and poignant description of a troubled same-sex relationship. They praised her elegant prose and realistic style, criticising the government for allowing a ridiculously-long sentence despite the fact that there were far worse crimes being committed daily in China.
Among the Chinese-speaking public the debate then went along the lines of — “Should producing erotic material be punishable by law?” After all, a novel isn’t as blatantly shocking as a hardcore pornographic film, for instance. Also, China has always produced erotic material going back centuries. Some fascinating examples dating from the Qing Dynasty are shown below:
