Female writers have been summoned by police for posting and sharing homosexual romance stories online, in a widespread crackdown on the 'boys love' genre in China.
If convicted, they could be subjected to detention, financial penalties, and even prison sentences.
Many of the targeted writers published their work on Haitang, a Taiwanese website popular with fans of boys love fiction — a genre that features romantic relationships between male characters, often depicting sex scenes.
Some of them have been documenting their experiences on Chinese social media.
A university student who goes by their pen name Sijindejin said she was served a notice in May to present herself at a local police station in Gansu province — about 970km away from her village in Chengdu.
Sijindejin, who says she grew up in a "poor village", bought the cheapest flight available and took her first plane trip to comply.
According to Chinese laws, police in any part of the country who claim they have received complaints about an individual can call them in for questioning.
Having only made 4,000 yuan ($857) after writing for years, Sijindejin said she never knew it could be a crime.
"I thought I could write my way out of the orbit of my destiny, and I thought I was writing my future, but I didn't realise that that future pointed to prison," Sijindejin wrote in her social media post.
Another writer also summoned by police expressed her similar shock.
"I'd never expected this day to come, to be hit in the face with every word I've written in the past," the anonymous writer said in a post on social media platform Weibo in late May.
"I love each of my books, and I see the books and each of the characters in them as my children, even when they are called sinful."
Writers of the boys love genre are mainly female, and it appears many of the targeted writers are also university students unable to afford legal representation.
Three lawyers, representing some of the writers, also posted about the crackdown, noting the scale of action has been widespread, with estimates that at least 100 writers have been affected.
Radio Free Asia reported that police in remote north-western Gansu province have called in dozens of writers, with some subsequently being detained, fined, or charged with offences that could result in prison terms.
'People should respect differences'
While the reason for the recent suppression is unclear, it is not the first time writers of the boys love genre have been targeted.
Last year, local police in Anhui province summoned several writers over the alleged offence of disseminating obscene content.
Some had their earnings from subscriber payments confiscated, and were also convicted and sentenced to prison.
China last updated its laws on "digitally obscene" content in 2010.
Those regulations said the "production, reproduction, publication, trafficking, dissemination" of any obscene works that generate more than 5,000 clicks online, or that make profits more than 5,000 yuan ($1,072), should be treated as a crime.
In 2018, writer Liu Yuanyuan was fined and sentenced to 10 years in prison for publishing her novel Occupy, a boys love fiction that contained content deemed as obscene.
The novel generated more than 150,000 yuan ($32,200) in profits.
Elsa, a boys love fiction writer who doesn't want to use her real name, said it was unreasonable and ignorant to treat all boys love fiction as obscene.
She said she didn't understand why only homosexual love writing was being targeted.
Homosexuality is not illegal in China, but gay couples cannot get married in the country.
"No matter if it's love and sexuality in reality or in a fictional world, people should respect differences," Elsa said.
"People are all discussing whether the sentencing was too harsh and whether it's appropriate to use dated standards to trial today's cases."
'Offshore fishing' censored
The crackdown has sparked backlash across China, with many people questioning the motives behind the police summons and severity of punishments.
On Chinese social media, people have accused police of "offshore fishing" — a phrase that refers to local police who have allegedly summoned suspects from other parts of the country for questioning for financial gain.
The phrase "offshore fishing" was censored last week on social media platforms in China, including Weibo and WeChat.
Haitang, the website popular with fans of boys love fiction, has also been suspended until July 8.
A spokesperson for Haitang said they were working on improving their services.
Tang Hongyang, a lawyer who represented several writers of the boys love genre last year, said the situation was getting worse.
But Beijing-based lawyer Zhang Dongshuo disagreed, saying the government may not be chasing profits.
"It seems that they have detained writers from poor family backgrounds who haven't made much money as well," Mr Zhang told the ABC.
Mr Zhang said authorities may have restarted the crackdown on boys love fiction because it was seen as unfavourable to China's new policies in raising fertility rates.
"Officials may think that these cases can eliminate the social influence [of homosexual love stories] and give young people a more 'positive' sexual orientation, and in a way promote fertility rates," he said.
Mr Zhang explained that China's fertility rates were dropping and many young people were opting out of marriage.
Despite this, he believes China's law on digitally obscene content should be updated to reflect the new social reality.
Boys love fiction gains popularity
Professor Wang Pan, who studies Chinese social media and pop culture at the University of New South Wales, said boys love fiction became a target of censorship and crackdown as it gained popularity in China.
She said the crackdown on boys love fiction was not just a blow to China's LGBT community, but also a blow to writers' freedom.
"The market and influence of boys love fiction has been expanding in recent years, and is sought after by more and more young people, especially women," Professor Wang said.
"The authors, who were the targets of criminal detention, were mostly female subculture content creators. They were underprivileged and earned some meagre fees and reward payments for their writing."
Professor Wang said the recent crackdown showed the government was expanding its scope of surveillance over the subculture and further restricting freedom of speech.
The Chinese government has been contacted for comment.
Elsa, the boys love fiction writer, said she felt sad for her peers who have been detained for writing boys love fiction.
"It's impossible not to feel anxious and disappointed," she said.
"I am not in the zone for writing at the moment and will stop for a while, but I'll not give up writing.
"For those who didn't depict many sex scenes in their book and didn't make much money, it's really unfair for them to get criminal records for just publishing their stories on Haitang."
