Dissidents Have Their Day

By Wen Huang and Edward Nawotka

Criticism accusing the Frankfurt Book Fair of censoring dissident voices at this year’s Fair now seems premature. Wednesday provided no less than four sessions offering dissident Chinese writers the opportunity to voice their opposition to Chinese government policies controlling the press and freedom of expression.

Throughout the day, large crowds gathered to hear dissident voices ranging from Ma Jian, author of Beijing Coma; Bei Ling, the poet and journal editor who was struck from the program of the symposium “China and the World—Perceptions and Realities” last month; to Uyghur activist and journalist Kaiser Abdulrusul ÖzHun, among others.

The writers did not hold back, with many of them describing what they perceive to be an “Orwellian” situation in China’s publishing industry. “Writers are not allowed to think and speak freely in China and the Chinese government strictly controls the publishing industry,” said Ma Jian during an event sponsored by PEN Germany, adding “there are no true private publishing houses in China. You see many Chinese publishing houses on display here at the fair with different names. In reality, they actually come under one name: the Communist Party’s ‘mouthpiece.’”

Ma‘s award-winning novel, Beijing Coma, deals with the student pro-democracy movement of 1989, and he accuses the Chinese government of building a huge “wall” on the internet to censor politically sensitive topics. “If you type in words such as democracy and human rights into Chinese search engines, you won’t find too many entries because the government blocks it all,” he said.

“When you commemorate the fall the Berlin Wall, have you ever thought of China and the student protest movement that happened 20 years ago?” he challenged the audience.

Zhou Qing, who is currently a visiting writer in Germany and is best known for publishing a report documenting the hazards of Chinese food to children, says he was beaten up in Beijing after he had written a series of articles which were critical of the Party. “The government divides writers into two groups “us” and “them.” Those who toe the Party line are treated with special favors whereas independent thinkers are persecuted,” he said.

When asked to comment on China being the Guest of Honor at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair, Zhou said he doesn’t think the fair will be able to provide a forum of dialogues between the Chinese government and people with dissenting views. “The Chinese government uses the opportunity to show off its new wealth and has sent a group of writers that have been specially selected by the Party. These writers are here on a free trip paid by taxpayer’s money. They don’t want to communicate and they can’t,” he added.

The Chinese stand in Hall 6 is larger than ever before at the fair and features thousands of titles from more than a hundred publishers, representing just a smattering of the overall Chinese annual book production that exceeds 250,000 titles per year and placing it among the top producers in the world.

Journalist Dai Qing was not impressed, stating the books displayed at the fair are mostly government sanctioned and contain information that has been censored or distorted. “If you look at the Chinese history book, you can’t find a single one that deal with the past brutalities of the Communist regime. There is no way you can get anything published without the approval of the Party,” she said.

Using one of her books as an example, she said she either has to find a publisher in Hong Kong or simply pay a printer some money and get them printed without a listed publisher, with the words “I’m personally responsible for the contents.”

During a session entitled “Freedom of Speech-Freedom of Word—Freedom to Publish held in the International Center, Norwegian publisher Bjorn Smith-Simonsen, head of the Freedom to Publish committee of the International Publishers Association (IPA), said that one of the first potential steps towards resolving the issue of censorship in China was to encourage General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) — China’s official publishing trade group—to join the IPA. Of course, he acknowledged, that was not yet possible as the bylaws of the IPA prohibit any organization from joining that demands compulsory membership. “This makes things difficult because the publishers association of China is state owned and no private company can be a member.”

In perhaps the most dramatic moment of the event, journalist Zhou Qing, acknowledging the ethnic tension in China that sparked violence in Xinjiang earlier this year, stood up and threw his arms around Uyghur journalist Kaiser Abdulrusul ÖzHun, hugging him, announcing. “Why should I hate him because he is different than me, as I will show you here, we are friends.” ÖzHun, who is now living in exile in Sweden, went on to say that “freedom of expression is a human right” and expressed frustration at the Chinese government’s blocking of internet traffic to Xinjiang until only recently. “I could not communicate with my family, my friends,” he said. “I’m only asking that all the people here fight for freedom of expression.”

One organizer from the Frankfurt Book Fair lamented that the audience at these events appeared to be largely comprised of members of PEN or the German public and not members of the official Chinese delegation.

Of course, some were in attendance, though perhaps preferred to remain incognito. One Chinese editor who is part of the Chinese government’s delegation, but declined to disclose his name, remarked, “These people are using the book fair as an effective platform to promote their political views,” a situation he described as “unfortunate.”

A Chinese scholar, who again preferred to remain anonymous, said that the dissident’s offered an over-simplified view of China’s publishing industry and did little more than brandish political slogans. “China has made tremendous progress in the publishing industry,” he said. “One can’t ignore the fact that writers and publishers are gaining their freedom inch by inch.”