In recent days, the Anhui police of the Chinese Communist Party have arrested dozens of mainland Chinese authors who write on the online literary platform “Haitang Cultural Online Literature City,” sparking controversy. Netizens believe that the purpose of these arrests is to extort money.
Since June 2024, the Anhui police have arrested dozens of female authors from the mainland who write on the website “Haitang Cultural Online Literature City” on charges of “producing and disseminating obscene materials for profit.” The website is an adult-oriented paid reading online literary platform that covers genres such as romance, fantasy, martial arts, and science fiction, with servers based in Taiwan.
After these young authors were arrested, they were required to hand over tens or even hundreds of thousands of yuan in past earnings and pay double the fine. They have been borrowing money from everywhere, trying to get probation, and some authors have also received donations from readers and other netizens.
According to a report on Sohu, one of the first authors to be arrested recently recounted her past experience. Her case has been closed, and she has been given a suspended sentence. She has since quit her job and is burdened with debt.
This author described being abruptly awakened by loud knocking at 6 o’clock in the morning. Upon opening the door, Anhui police officers identified themselves, asked for her name, inquired about her writing on Haitang, checked her phone, logged into her Haitang account, and confirmed her identity. Her phone and computer were confiscated on the spot, and if the payment method on Haitang was through a bank card, that was seized as well.
She was then taken to a nearby police station for questioning, which lasted the entire day, from 10 in the morning until close to midnight.
She said, “I had to return the stolen money. I had made a profit of over a hundred thousand yuan, and I had to immediately refund that money in order to be released on bail. I hadn’t been out of college for long, and my savings were depleted by an illness. I only had twenty thousand yuan in my WeChat account. My father came over to raise money outside, while I swiped my credit card inside and called around to borrow money.”
According to this author, she later found out that on that day, several top authors across the country were arrested. Although she had a significant number of followers, her income level was not substantial. The second round of arrests began at the end of July, targeting both smaller and top authors.
She mentioned, “At first, I thought only a few authors were arrested, but later I learned it was dozens. Those who could post bail did so, and those who couldn’t (finish returning the money) were taken away immediately. Upon hearing the sentencing recommendation (return the money and pay) double the fine, accept having a criminal record, I just wanted to reduce some of the economic pressure as much as possible, but I didn’t expect it to be so high.”
After this news was reported by the media, it sparked heated discussions among netizens.
Many Weibo users commented, “The efficiency in catching these small website female authors, who can’t even be found by hotel cameras, is remarkable.” “Incidents of sexual assault, bullying, voyeurism, and sexual harassment are rampant, but we don’t see you acting so swiftly, it’s really impressive.” “Cross-provincial pursuit redefined: ‘fishing in distant waters,’ ‘justice no matter how far,’ ‘diversification of revenue.'”
“After reading for a while, it seems that the core problem of these arrests is money.” “Isn’t this a kind of cross-provincial fishing expedition?” “Is it because it’s easy to catch and boost performance?”
Some netizens also remarked, “Raising funds for probation and sentence reduction, especially on a public platform, is simply to extort money rather than genuinely enforce the law.” “This article, more straightforward than those written by authors and their families before, clearly reflects the essence of this matter. The impression the entire article left on me is just about money!”