Chinese authorities have launched an unprecedented crackdown on female writers of homosexual romance fiction, with at least 100 authors summoned by police across multiple provinces for publishing “boys love” stories online.
The widespread police action has targeted writers who publish romantic stories featuring male characters on digital platforms, with many facing potential detention, financial penalties, or prison sentences if convicted under China’s obscenity laws.
The crackdown has particularly focused on writers who published their work on Haitang, a popular Taiwanese website that hosts boys love fiction, a genre featuring romantic relationships between male characters that often includes explicit content.
One writer using the pen name Sijindejin documented her shocking experience on Chinese social media after receiving a police summons in May. Despite living in a village in Chengdu, she was ordered to present herself at a police station in remote Gansu province, approximately 970 kilometers away.
“I thought I could write my way out of the orbit of my destiny, and I thought I was writing my future, but I didn’t realise that that future pointed to prison,” Sijindejin wrote in her social media post.
The writer, who described growing up in a “poor village,” bought the cheapest available flight and took her first plane trip ever to comply with the police summons. Having earned only 4,000 yuan ($857) from years of writing, she said she never realized her work could be considered criminal.
Another anonymous writer expressed similar shock on the social media platform Weibo, stating she never expected to face consequences for her literary work.
“I’d never expected this day to come, to be hit in the face with every word I’ve written in the past,” the writer posted in late May. “I love each of my books, and I see the books and each of the characters in them as my children, even when they are called sinful.”
Radio Free Asia reported that police in Gansu province alone had summoned dozens of writers, with some subsequently detained, fined, or charged with offences carrying potential prison sentences.
The targeted writers are predominantly female, with many being university students unable to afford legal representation. Three lawyers representing some of the writers confirmed the widespread nature of the crackdown through social media posts.
China’s current laws on “digitally obscene” content, last updated in 2010, classify any obscene work generating more than 5,000 online clicks or profits exceeding 5,000 yuan ($1,072) as criminal.
The regulations state that “production, reproduction, publication, trafficking, dissemination” of such content should be treated as criminal offences.
This is not the first time boys love fiction writers have faced legal action. Last year, police in Anhui province summoned several writers over alleged dissemination of obscene content, with some having their earnings confiscated and receiving prison sentences.
In 2018, writer Liu Yuanyuan received a 10-year prison sentence and fine for publishing her novel “Occupy,” a boys love fiction that generated more than 150,000 yuan ($32,200) in profits and was deemed obscene by authorities.
Elsa, a boys love fiction writer who requested anonymity, criticized the targeting of homosexual romance writing as unreasonable and ignorant.
“No matter if it’s love and sexuality in reality or in a fictional world, people should respect differences,” Elsa said. “People are all discussing whether the sentencing was too harsh and whether it’s appropriate to use dated standards to trial today’s cases.”
She questioned why only homosexual love writing was being targeted, noting that homosexuality itself is not illegal in China, though same-sex couples cannot legally marry.
The crackdown has sparked widespread backlash on Chinese social media, with many questioning police motives and the severity of punishments. Users have accused police of “offshore fishing,” a term referring to local authorities summoning suspects from other regions for alleged financial gain.
The phrase “offshore fishing” was subsequently censored on major Chinese social media platforms including Weibo and WeChat. The popular Haitang website has also been suspended until July 8, with a spokesperson saying they were working on service improvements.
Tang Hongyang, a lawyer who represented several boys love genre writers last year, said the situation was deteriorating.
However, Beijing-based lawyer Zhang Dongshuo suggested the government’s motives might extend beyond financial considerations.
“It seems that they have detained writers from poor family backgrounds who haven’t made much money as well,” Zhang told international media.
Zhang speculated that authorities might have restarted the crackdown because boys love fiction was seen as unfavorable to China’s policies aimed at raising fertility rates.
“Officials may think that these cases can eliminate the social influence of homosexual love stories and give young people a more ‘positive’ sexual orientation, and in a way promote fertility rates,” he explained.
He noted that China’s fertility rates were dropping and many young people were choosing not to marry, potentially motivating government action against content seen as promoting alternative lifestyles.
Despite this reasoning, Zhang believes China’s digital obscenity laws should be updated to reflect current social realities.
Professor Wang Pan, who studies Chinese social media and pop culture at the University of New South Wales, said boys love fiction became a censorship target as it gained popularity in China.
“The market and influence of boys love fiction has been expanding in recent years, and is sought after by more and more young people, especially women,” Professor Wang said.
She described the crackdown as affecting both China’s LGBT community and writers’ freedoms generally.
“The authors, who were the targets of criminal detention, were mostly female subculture content creators. They were underprivileged and earned some meagre fees and reward payments for their writing,” Professor Wang explained.
She characterized the recent crackdown as evidence that the government was expanding surveillance over subcultures and further restricting freedom of speech.
Writer Elsa expressed sadness for her detained peers while vowing to continue her work despite the risks.
“It’s impossible not to feel anxious and disappointed,” she said. “I am not in the zone for writing at the moment and will stop for a while, but I’ll not give up writing.”
She particularly criticized the treatment of writers whose work contained minimal explicit content and generated little profit.
“For those who didn’t depict many sex scenes in their book and didn’t make much money, it’s really unfair for them to get criminal records for just publishing their stories on Haitang,” Elsa said.
