2015-01-09
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Prominent former “rightist” Tie Liu visits the former Beijing residence of Lu Xun, an influential Chinese writer, in a file photo.
New Century Net
The ruling Chinese Communist Party is to force authors publishing their work online to register with their real names, as the authorities keep up the pressure on freedom of expression, writers said.
According to new regulations from the government’s Bureau of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, which administers tight control over media and publications, any authors posting literary works online must be in possession of a “certificate,” requiring real-name registration.
The new rules also call for further “professional and moral training” for authors of online literary works.
The use of a pen-name is a time-honored tradition in Chinese literature and journalism, and many writers use pseudonyms to mask their identities if they wish to write something which might be construed as critical of the regime.
But pervasive state surveillance of individuals means that the authorities often know the identities of such authors.
‘Yet another attack’
Zhang Yu, secretary for the writers’ group Independent Chinese PEN, said the move represents yet another attack on freedom of expression in China.
“This shows that they want to take their interference with writers’ freedom of expression to the next level,” Zhang told RFA. “This will make it much easier for them to maintain surveillance of authors, using various types of software and other methods.”
“In actual fact, the authorities are able to find out who an author is using various types of technology, whether they use their real names or a pseudonym,” he said.
“The whole point of this [real-name] system is to create a sense of threat, so that authors will censor themselves,” he said.
The bureau’s “Opinion on Directing the Healthy Development of Online Literature” calls on website publishers to uphold “core socialist values” and create a number of online literary brands making “popular, original…exquisite works of art that are the well-made result of deep thought.”
It places the responsibility for setting up the online “certificate” system on the shoulders of editors and publishers of online literature.
The next step
Independent Guangdong-based writer Ye Du agreed that the new rules represent the next step in government control of freedom of expression.
“The government has been pushing real-name registration for some time now, and now they want to extend it to online authors,” Ye said.
“Under a real-name registration system, many more people will have qualms about what they publish online, whether it be novels or social commentary,” he said.
U.S.-based China scholar and former online editor Li Hongkuan said the rules will also make it harder for online publications that operate on a shoestring.
