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China requires real-name registration of online writers to ensure "correct and healthful" content
(18 Jun)On Monday (15 June), China's state-run General Administration of Press and Publication issued a notice entitled "On Further Strengthening the Management of Online Literature Publications" to reinforce the supervision of online written works and increase the regulation of the online literature industry.
In the notice, the authorities required that online publishers establish a robust system of vetting its content "to ensure content was aligned toward correctness in a healthful, uplifting style". They also demanded the strict implementation of a real-name registration system for online writers. They urged all levels of publishing authorities to start assessing the societal benefit of online publishers and "reward and support those with excellent assessment results and to criticize and penalise those who fall below standard". The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) had issued a similar notice as early as 2015 to demand that online writers register their real names.
Tsoi Wing-mui, the former chief editor of Open Magazine - a Hong Kong political commentary magazine, speculated that the renewed emphasis on a "real name registry" may have to do with the widespread circulation of Fang Fang's diary-like record of the Wuhan pneumonia [COVID-19] in recent months. [The authorities] are fully aware that online articles are influential and pose a threat to the regime.
Yesterday (17 June), Zhang Yu, coordinator of the Independent Chinese PEN Centre, stated in an interview with Radio Free Asia that real-name registration "actually undermines these people's desire to create. They are afraid of breaking the rules, which is definitely unfavourable from a literary perspective." He pointed out that popular literature online could be divided into two main categories: pornography and exposés of corruption within the government. Although Chinese online writers tend to reveal society's darker side through insinuations, they worry about being "labelled at the drop of a hat, accused of vulgarity and yellow [obscenity]" in the future. He reckoned that authors could still use pseudonyms under the new rule but they would have to register their real names on the back end when uploading articles.
This February, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) published the 2019 Online Literature Development Report, showing that the number of online literature consumers has reached 455 million, of which more than half were readers. Last year's 2018 Online Literature Development Report by China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association indicated that 2018 saw 17.55 million online writers in China, suggesting a boom in Chinese online literature.
Source: Stand News
https://bit.ly/2YWATnu
#ChineseLiterature #OnlineWriters #FreedomOfSpeech #Censorship #RealNameRegistration
China requires real-name registration of online writers to ensure "correct and healthful" content
(18 Jun)On Monday (15 June), China's state-run General Administration of Press and Publication issued a notice entitled "On Further Strengthening the Management of Online Literature Publications" to reinforce the supervision of online written works and increase the regulation of the online literature industry.
In the notice, the authorities required that online publishers establish a robust system of vetting its content "to ensure content was aligned toward correctness in a healthful, uplifting style". They also demanded the strict implementation of a real-name registration system for online writers. They urged all levels of publishing authorities to start assessing the societal benefit of online publishers and "reward and support those with excellent assessment results and to criticize and penalise those who fall below standard". The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) had issued a similar notice as early as 2015 to demand that online writers register their real names.
Tsoi Wing-mui, the former chief editor of Open Magazine - a Hong Kong political commentary magazine, speculated that the renewed emphasis on a "real name registry" may have to do with the widespread circulation of Fang Fang's diary-like record of the Wuhan pneumonia [COVID-19] in recent months. [The authorities] are fully aware that online articles are influential and pose a threat to the regime.
Yesterday (17 June), Zhang Yu, coordinator of the Independent Chinese PEN Centre, stated in an interview with Radio Free Asia that real-name registration "actually undermines these people's desire to create. They are afraid of breaking the rules, which is definitely unfavourable from a literary perspective." He pointed out that popular literature online could be divided into two main categories: pornography and exposés of corruption within the government. Although Chinese online writers tend to reveal society's darker side through insinuations, they worry about being "labelled at the drop of a hat, accused of vulgarity and yellow [obscenity]" in the future. He reckoned that authors could still use pseudonyms under the new rule but they would have to register their real names on the back end when uploading articles.
This February, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) published the 2019 Online Literature Development Report, showing that the number of online literature consumers has reached 455 million, of which more than half were readers. Last year's 2018 Online Literature Development Report by China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association indicated that 2018 saw 17.55 million online writers in China, suggesting a boom in Chinese online literature.
Source: Stand News
https://bit.ly/2YWATnu
#ChineseLiterature #OnlineWriters #FreedomOfSpeech #Censorship #RealNameRegistration