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China Detains Dozens of Danmei Writers Under Strict Obscenity Laws
CHINA, JUN 30 – At least 30 women, mostly in their 20s, face charges for producing gay erotic fiction online under China's pornography laws, with potential prison sentences exceeding 10 years, lawyers said.
- Since February 2025, Chinese authorities have detained at least 30 danmei authors—predominantly young women—to crack down on the online publication of gay erotica on platforms such as Haitang Literature.
- Authorities accuse these writers of violating China's 1997 pornography law by producing and distributing obscene materials, with some claims suggesting police seek revenue amid China's recent economic downturn.
- Many arrested authors faced heavy fines, suspended sentences, or prison terms ranging from one to several years, while the crackdown has increased policing since 2021 and especially escalated since last June.
- In March 2025, Chinese Premier Li Qiang pledged to take firm action against illegal and profit-motivated law enforcement activities that extend beyond local jurisdictions, while a lawyer described the arrests as a typical example of ‘offshore fishing’ tactics.
- The arrests have unsettled the danmei community and sparked online debate, but some writers say they will continue despite the crackdown, hoping for fair treatment beyond the content of their works.
24 Articles
24 Articles
Gay erotica writers arrested in China amid crackdown on adult content
In China, numerous young women have been arrested by police for writing and posting gay erotica on a website called Haitang Literature City. They have been charged with producing and distributing pornographic materials. According to the BBC, at least 30 women have been arrested since February. All of them face a series of different charges, including jail time and/or hefty fines, and sentences depending on the money they earned from readers purc…
“They warned me not to talk about it,” the woman wrote, before revealing fragments of the day she was arrested for publishing erotic stories of gay theme. “I will never forget it: being escorted to the car in plain sight, enduring the humiliation of stripping me to be examined in front of strangers, putting on a vest for photos, sitting in the chair, trembling with fear, with a heart beating with force.”The name of user Pingping Anan Yongfu on s…
The so-called "danmei," around which there has been a large community of readers for decades
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