HONG KONG (AFP) ― A potent mix of state censorship, conservative publishing choices and scant translation means international readers are given a narrow view of contemporary China, industry critics say.
There are the occasional books by Chinese authors that hit the international bestseller lists such as the blockbuster “Wild Swans” by Jung Chang, which has sold millions worldwide, and Adeline Yen Mah’s “Falling Leaves.”
But both of those authors are based in the West ― highlighting the paucity of material from China itself that reaches international markets.
Hong-Kong based Harvey Thomlinson founded Make-Do Publishing in 2009 to produce quality Chinese and Asian literature in English translation, capitalising on Hong Kong’s unique position as a multicultural Chinese territory where freedom of speech laws remain intact.
“You can’t underestimate censorship and the impact it has had on the quality of China’s literary output,” he said.
“The effect is like a dust sheet being thrown over a piano ― not only state censorship but also the self-censorship that goes with it.”
Chinese fiction also tends to follow a template, according to the British publisher, ignoring the realities of industrialised, modern China, which continues to grow and change at a bewildering pace.
Western imprints pick out only a few genres for translation such as the Cultural Revolution memoir, along with novels by Westernised Chinese authors ― who often write originally in English.
And economic factors also play a major part in the drive to boost sales. “Most books have to turn a profit for publishers and this can make editors and their boards quite conservative about their choices,” said London-based author and translator Julia Lovell.
“It means they need to look for commercial themes, or books that seem to recapitulate styles and ideas that have worked in the past. Anything new or very literary will, of course, seem a risk.”
As well as being an easier sell in the West, such books are also less of a risk for the writers, who are reluctant to tackle current social issues for fear of official repercussions.
In China’s big state-run publishing houses “editing is not a profession any more,” said Martin Merz, a Hong Kong-based translator. “Now it’s more about avoiding political errors.”
Make-Do focuses instead on independent authors such as Murong Xuecun and Chen Xiwo, who tend to offer something different from the many government-backed writers in China who receive stipends and other incentives to encourage them to stay on-side.
Murong’s debut book, “Leave Me Alone: A Novel of Chengdu” was first published online in 2002, where it attracted several million readers before being released in print.
The novel tells the darkly comic story of three young men’s attempts to make their way in newly capitalist China, their lives beset by dead-end jobs and gambling debts.
