China police launch campaign against 'boys' love' fiction writers
Some of the writers were reportedly detained on suspicion of producing, selling and disseminating obscene content. The operation targeted authors who published their work on a Taiwanese erotic literature website called Haitang Literature City.
The Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao reported that more than 200 people were summoned in Lanzhou, most of them female college students, with a few readers included among them.
The clampdown followed Chinese President Xi Jinping's call in January for tighter regulations during a meeting focused on eradicating obscene, pornographic and illegal publications.
Boys' love, or BL, is a niche genre of fiction centered on romantic relationships between male protagonists. First created in the 1970s by female Japanese manga artists, it has grown in popularity in recent years, with media adaptations spanning manga, animation, video games and television dramas.
The genre gained popularity in China in the 1990s. Looser regulations on online content compared to print or video allowed the number of digital novelists to grow rapidly, with some reportedly earning thousands of yuan (1 yuan equals $0.14) from their publications.
Last year, more than 50 authors who posted their stories on the Haitang site were arrested in the eastern Chinese province of Anhui, with some sentenced to four and a half years in prison, according to Ming Pao.
The newspaper suggested the crackdown came amid growing frustration among Chinese authorities over the country's declining birthrate and a rising reluctance among young people to marry or have children.
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