In
Berlin, China opened its cultural publicity offensive with Zhang Yimou’s movie
“Under the Hawthorn Tree”, hoping to mark the occasion of the 40th
anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and the Federal Republic of
Germany by bringing people and feelings closer together. China has renounced
any such attempts at camouflage during its London appearance.
The
London Book Fair and the British Council have bowed to the wishes of their
guest and follow China's political programme by not giving dissident and
independent authors and critics a voice.
While
the Chinese delegation arrived at a British breakfast with 21 hand-chosen
authors, the hosts did not see the need to bring along important guests of
their own. Nobel prizewinners Gao Xingjian and Liu Xiaobo were not invited, nor
were contemporary authors such as Liao Yiwu, Bei Ling, and others.
There
are however authors within the official Chinese delegation who have long since
adopted another citizenship. It’s a little like World Cup football. Ex-patriots
can be nominated if they are “representative”. To be chosen is an honour, but
economic interests are also at play. However those nominated should know that
they have been selected or at least approved by an organisation known as GAPP,
the General Administration of Press and Publication, responsible for censorship
of printed matter in China. The London Book Fair and British council believe
their cooperation with GAPP is justified.
Chinese
dissident Bei Ling, expelled to the USA after his arrest in 2000, rightly
criticizes the spectrum of literature presented, which excludes those who have
been jailed for their writing and who have been censored, as well as those who
were forced into exile, but are still writing.
Some
works formerly classified as underground literature have been able to enjoy
rehabilitation and recognition in China in the past years, others have not. But
independent Chinese literature currently plays a key role in world literature.
The only possible conclusion is that they were not excluded because they are an
unimportant element of Chinese literature, but because they stand for
independent thinking, something that is anathema to the guest country.
One
would think it only natural to be shocked, as is the Nobel prize winner in
literature, Elfriede Jelinek, who writes that she believes it is our duty to
take a stand against the suppression of writers and artists. However this
sentiment does not seem to be shared by the organisers of the book fair.
Bei
Ling, founder of the independent Chinese section of PEN and author at this
year’s Leipzig Book Fair, repeatedly asked the organisers whether independent
thought, and thus also contradiction, is not intrinsic to the literary spirit.
He proposed talks on censorship and self-censorship.
The
London Book Fair and British Council talk instead of 180 Chinese publishing
houses, of China as a market, and of their duty as a trade fair. While the UK
branch of Amnesty International published the biographies and writings of
imprisoned authors each day before the book fair opened, sales negotiations
began. The organisers of the 2009 Frankfurt book fair at least managed to think
twice, and responded to public protests by inviting unwanted authors originally
ignored.
The
London Book Fair will go down in contemporary European literary history as a
scandal. Zhu Yufu for example, has been in jail since February 2012 for the
lines (English translation by A. E. Clark): “It’s time, people of China! It’s
time/ The Square belongs to everyone/…/A song belongs to everyone/…/China
belongs to everyone/ Of your own will/ It’s time to choose what China shall
be”.
His
sentence: 7 years imprisonment.
The English translation of the above is by Laura Radosh
Footnote:
Photo of author, above right, taken by David Howard at the Granada Poetry Festival 2009 (Nicaragua). Some of her poetry, incidentally, appears in the latest
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