When dissident author Murong Xuecun returns home, he says he will tell Beijing authorities they can come and get him.
BY ALEXA OLESEN JULY 2, 2014
These are dicey times for Murong Xuecun, although it might not be apparent from his recent movements. He just spent three months in Sydney, Australia, as a visiting scholar at the University of Sydney; went to Saint Malo on the northern coast of France for a literary festival; and spent time in Italy with his European agent before jetting off to Hong Kong to visit his girlfriend, who teaches at a university there. The 40-year-old, Beijing-based novelist (whose real name is Hao Qun) is among the biggest stars in a group of young Chinese literati who jumpstarted their careers by publishing fiction online. In recent years, he’s also gained notoriety for his fearless blogging and opinion pieces. Why worry about this outspoken, best-selling, baby-faced Chinese novelist?
Because on May 23 in a column for the New York Times, published in English and Chinese, Murong stated that when he got back to China, he was going to turn himself over to the authorities. His “crime”: involvement in a commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement. That May 3 forum in a Beijing apartment, which Murong missed because he was out of the country, resulted in the detention of several prominent intellectuals, including the well-known rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang, who remains in custody. Murong says he was there in spirit. He was invited and contributed an essay about heroism and Tiananmen that was read at the gathering. “Hard as it may seem to believe — I have a law degree, and I myself can hardly believe it,” Murong wrote in his column, “reciting such an essay at a private gathering can violate China’s laws.” He added: “I am going to turn myself in.”
Murong was to fly back to Beijing July 2. Whether he ends up in jail, the subject of Pen International petitions and Human Rights Watch campaigns, or whether he is deemed harmless by Chinese authorities, free to write his next book unmolested, remains to be seen.
It’s a troubling situation for those close to him. Benython Oldfield, Murong’s literary agent in Australia, told Foreign Policy via email he is “very concerned” about Murong, who has told Oldfield that he is willing to go to jail for his writing. “There is no edict from high as to what is 100 percent acceptable,” said Oldfield.
“If you are a writer in China you’re not quite sure where that line starts and ends. It’s amorphous and can move.”
“If you are a writer in China you’re not quite sure where that line starts and ends. It’s amorphous and can move.”