A Crime With No Real Victims

Edit: a fundraiser for a writer who was targeted in 2024 has been set up. Find it here: https://chuffed.org/project/142251-help-a-chinese-queer-writer

1. Haitang

Haitang is a web novel platform belonging to a Taiwanese publisher. The landing site clearly states "no minors are allowed."

For a decade, Chinese cops have been targeting everyone from Danmei writers, independent artists, figure sellers to buyers and even those running the platforms the shops are on with the excuse of "combating online obscenity and pornography."

Writers on Haitang have been targeted twice since 2024. Yet what exactly counts as "obscenity" or the process of "distributing" it has never been explained. The judicial interpretations on which the cops base their cases were first issued 20 years ago and should clearly be outdated at this point.

From the 2024 case, a writer named "Yunjian" received the harshest sentence with four years and six months in prison and a fine of 1,845,800 yuan (over $250k USD).

Different from how Anhui cops targeted writers based on how much they made, Lanzhou cops targeted mostly writers who made little to no money. Lanzhou cops stated that the sentencing is based on "how many clicks the novel has and how widely distributed it is." Writers did not accept how Lanzhou police counted the clicks. A writer named Ding Xiang said that during questioning, the cop printed out her work chapter by chapter and added the clicks of each chapter. Another writer made no more than 10,000 yuan but since most of the chapters are free, she had a staggering number of click.

The Interpretation by the Supreme People's Court released back in 2004 and 2010 stated that, for the case of "producing, reproducing, publishing, trafficking and distributing obscene materials for profit", it counts as a crime if the number of clicks is over 10,000 and the profit is over 10,000 yuan. The cases are recognized as “severe” andi “extremely severe” if they are more than 5 times and more than 25 times the standard. Even putting aside the fact that barely anyone was online back then comparing to today, comparing queer novels with sex to cases such as revenge porn is absolutely laughable.

2. The mistreatment of readers and writers summoned by the cops; CW queerphobia, police violence

A reader nicknamed Ningjing was requested to "cooperate with the investigation" since she was now suspected of "distributing obscenity and pornography" because she spent 10 yuan on buying Haitang credits through Taobao. When she arrived at the police station, a male cop took her phone and went through her browser history, WeChat chat history and favourites, local files and images and also her Taobao purchase history. Then he logged into her Haitang account and checked her bookshelf and favourites. As the cop browsed, he asked: "what is Danmei? What is Baihe?" Ningjing responded that Danmei are love stories between men and Baihe are love stories between women. Why do you read such things? Are you married? Do you have a boyfriend? The cop asked. Ningjing was by now very upset at the invasion of her privacy. The record of their conversation (or rather one-sided questioning) was only shown to her when her signature was required, and she noticed that the cop changed her words to "Danmei are obscene pornographic stories featuring sexual acts between men" and "Baihe are obscene pornographic stories featuring sexual acts between women."

Another reader nicknamed Xiao Ou bought Haitang credits through Taobao in March 2025 and was summoned in April. She was questioned for half an hour by a male cop and also noticed the discrepancies between what she said and what was recorded. For example, when asked how Haitang monetizes, she said "it depends on the character count" but what was written down was "the writers require payments." She crossed out a line that read (which she never said) "all Danmei and Baihe on Haitang are pornographic", and proceeded to say that the website asks the viewers to confirm they are over 18 and there are also stories with no sex. The cop was enraged by her response and shouted: "what do you mean it's not all porn?" He made Xiao Ou look up the definition of "pornographic novel" and read it out. She did as told and then said: "there must be a standard. I can't say something so absolute while my statement is being taken." Two more cops walked in and started pressuring her with questions such as what is your goal? Are there any writers you know personally? Are they your relatives? Do you want to be like them? Are you a member of the Party? Xiao Ou realized that they wanted to use words forced upon her to categorize all Haitang work as "obscenity and pornography." and at first refused to sign. After more than hour of threatening and pressuring (including threats to expose her to her entire school), she had a breakdown and decided to sign her name just to get out of there.

A writer named Xu Man had already deleted her account when the cops contacted her. Most of her questioning was about her content on Haitang. One male cop asked if she writes Danmei or Yanqing (言情, heterosexual romance). She said that two were about gay relationships and one featured intersex. The cop asked what intersex is and she said her story is about "[someone] having both male and female physical characteristics." The cop wrote down "Lie Qi" (猎奇), which is a catch-all term for anything "weird", similar to labeling people with physical disabilities as "freaks". After seeing that one of her titles had "1v1" at the end, the cop again asked: "what does '1v1' mean? Is this how you attract readers?" Xu Man realized that the cops were not at all familiar with Haitang and never read anything on it. When he was trying to count how many chapters her work had, he couldn't even find how to log in on Haitang and ended up using a piracy site.

There is a grassroot effort in counting exactly how many people have received a call, been summoned or taken to Lanzhou since there is a lack of transparency and everyone has been essentially living in fear, not knowing who will be next. A form showed that from the end of March to beginning of June, writers from over twenty provinces and cities were summoned, including someone residing in Australia. Many writers and readers confirmed with Aquarius Eras that the actual number is in the hundreds. The majority of the writers were female/femme writers of Danmei but there were also writers of het romance and male writers, and even those who write closed door romance/stories without sexual content - for free.

The first questioning Haitang writers have to go through usually last anywhere from six to nine hours, with no time for food or breaks in between. One writer recalled that throughout her questioning, the cops were using coercive language, such as "you'll be released on bail if you admit everything, otherwise you are coming back with me to Lanzhou" and the promise that there wouldn't be further problems after her statement was taken. She believed in the cops' words and, even though the cops didn't even know what she wrote, she truthfully told them everything.

A writer named Chu Yun was confused that one of her novels (a free one, no less) counted as "obscene material" when out of the sixty something chapters, only ten or so had sexual content. A writer named Ding Xiang had three books: an explicit Danmei novel, an explicit het romance novel, and a Danmei with no sex. The Danmei with no sex was considered "obscene" yet the explicit het romance novel was not. The cop said they didn't know why, either.

According to writers of Haitang, the majority of the cops they encountered were men. They'd ask invasive and condescending questions such as whether the writers themselves are homosexuals, if they have a sex life, why they write about gays, whether they feel twisted inside for writing such things. Do they admit that they've committed a crime? Are they ashamed of themselves?

Here is an analysis from a researcher named Jiang Wanheng: "in porn materials that [cishet] men are familiar with, the women are often the objects; yet, in Danmei created by female writers, the men are the objects, the subjects of the [non-cishet male] gaze. A conservative cishet men will naturally not be able to accept sex between men and especially the bottom being a sexualized man."

3. Why Haitang is special; and how queer and mainly Danmei novels are a refuge for women (and closeted queer people) exploring their sexuality

In the words of someone interviewed by Aquarius Eras named Wei, what makes Danmei more attractive than traditional novels is the fact that it can "escape the cishet hegemony and break free from stereotypical relationship modes and [cishet male] gaze towards women." Haitang is a truly free and inclusive website where "writers are free to create and readers can always find something they like." Such spaces do not exist in Chinese web novel platforms. In January 2014, China began an operation titled "eradicate pornography and illegal publications; clean internet 2014." (扫黄打非·净网2014) Since then, major web novel websites such as Jingjiang, Qidian and Changpei built their own review mechanisms, and Jinjiang became famous for the policy of "nothing beneath necks." Jinjiang also restricts the topics that can be written.

At first, Wei wondered if something was wrong with her for enjoying reading something so explicit. Then she noticed how relaxed and happy she was while reading them, with none of the guilt that came with watching porn featuring real people. She said that female readers tend to like novels with plot AND sex, satisfying their needs emotionally and sexually, all while feeling "absolutely safe."

The researcher Jiang Wanheng said: "women's sexuality in China has always been repressed. If you want to explore your own body and sexuality, especially something more niche, you won't be able to find anything on mainstream platforms. There has got to be an outlet somewhere."

The writer Xu Man was similarly appalled by certain topics at first but her aversion disappeared when she wrote about her sexuality and kinks. She received recognition and praises from many people. While reading the long comments beneath her novels, she noticed that many female readers came from a loveless family of origin.

4. The further marginalization of the marginalized; CW child abuse & trafficking

Majority of the writers targeted by the cops come from the lower class. The writers summoned by Lanzhou this time are mostly university students with little real life experience and a lack of legal knowledge and social resources. Common themes from their personal stories include poverty, marginalization and unsupportive families.

Because her birth parents were too poor, Chu Yun was "sold" twice and stayed with a number of different families. Her current foster parents are kind to her but due to their conservative views, all they want for her is to marry some nice man. Chu Yun does not want that life and writing web novels became a way for her to take control of her own life. At first, she charged nothing for her writing as she poured six to eight hours daily and all her longing of the world into her work. She earned more than 4000 yuan. She's been looking forward to the day to save up enough money to go on the plane and travel for the first time. Chu Yun never expected her first time on a plane to be travelling to Lanzhou.

Maomao said she's been poor since birth and relied on financial aid to get through schools. She's lived in Sichuan for more than twenty years and never even travelled to the west side of it. She feels a sense of achievement from the praises and recognition she receives from her work.

A lot of writers tried Jinjiang at first but found it was difficult to make it. You cannot earn money if you are not signed by Jinjiang. Comparing to JJ, Haitang is fairer in the sense that 1. you can charge money as long as there are readers and 2. Haitang doesn’t have an algorithm that favour top authors.

Since the completion of the case in Jixi, Anhui, the heavy fines put Danmei writers in further poverty. They were fined anywhere from 100,000 yuan (or almost $14k USD) to1,000,000 yuan (or almost $140k USD). To pay off the fines, they had to borrow money any way they could and sometimes they even borrowed from online lending sources that are high interest. Yet, they are also prevented from stable jobs due to their "criminal records."

Qingjue, one of the writers from the 2024 case, was sentenced to a year and five months in prison and put on probation for two years. She revealed that she was six figures debts from online lending. She has to rely on part-time jobs that don't do background checks. Once, she was doing a delivery job that paid around 50 yuan a day (less than $7 USD). She was traveling between her town of residence and the city for her job and was constantly getting warnings because her probation restricted her movements and required her to check in regularly on an app accessing her location. She ended up having to quit.

For two months, Xiao Ou lived in the aftermath of the abusive questioning. She could not accept that the writers were given these fake crimes and she was used as a tool to accomplish that goal.

A writer described their life after bail: insomnia, waking up from nightmares, dreaming about the day they were summoned: being taken away on a police car in broad daylight, being strip searched in front of strangers, trembling in fear on a chair while crying nonstop, feeling like they were broken with no control over their body’s movements and tears.

Before May, a group of writers previously detained were released. It was observed that one of them went from a happy-go-lucky person to someone who's easily paranoid and constantly invalidates herself.