Best Chinese Outlawed Literature

As China opens its venerable doors to the world with a welcoming Han bow, and her market surges as the world’s fastest-growing economy, globalization is swiftly superseding tradition, subconsciously yet incontrovertibly influencing (some say “poisoning”) the sons and daughters of Han.

From Beijing punks to Shanghai socialites, the face of the now-clichéd “New China” is evolving after 5,000 years of cultural homogeneity, and so is its literature. China is notorious for its state-controlled propaganda media, and its strict censorship laws – including book burnings, imprisonment of journalists and bloggers, and executing pornographers. But defiance remains.

Resisting the threat of incarceration or ostracization, a brave few “rebel writers” have dared put on paper their stories of non-conformity, sexual deviance and/or drug abuse. The conservative CPC’s knee-jerk government response is to publicly ban these books while branding them with deliciously affronting labels such as “Spiritual Pollution.”

Proving Communist China still has much to learn about market-driven economics, such attention only helps fuel international publicity, resulting in millions of sales for a book that might have otherwise been tossed into the gutters of Huangpu.

Some are forgettable, others are true literary works of art deserving of their acclaim and longevity. But no matter their contents, it is their NOTORIETY that we western readers revel in. Prurience is nothing new to United States of Iniquity, yet hearing it come from a Chinese author intrigues, nay, enraptures us.

This list, compiled by photojournalist Tom Carter, author of CHINA: Portrait of a People, highlights the most notorious works of Chinese controversial or banned literature from the PRC’s most fearless authors.