According to reporting by Taiwan’s Central News Agency, scores of writers in China have been arrested or fined for publishing on the Taiwan-based adult fiction website Haitang Literature (海棠文學城), which allows authors to earn money through subscriptions and tips. More than 50 writers of “danmei” (耽美) — romantic fiction featuring male-male relationships typically written by women — have been detained since June 2024 in what critics call “remote fishing” (遠洋捕撈). This refers to the practice by the authorities of crossing jurisdictions to make arrests. Police in Anhui province initially targeted high-earning Chinese authors on the platform, while recent arrests in Lanzhou focused mostly on young writers, many university students, who made just a few thousand yuan through their online writings. Several writers implicated in the crackdown posted on Weibo about depression and suicidal thoughts before their accounts were deleted. CNA reports that lawyers in Beijing and Shanghai have formed pro bono legal aid teams to assist detained authors. So far, no coverage of this story has appeared in the media inside China.
