Have online writers like Murong largely been ignored by the big state-owned publishing houses?
To a large extent I think writers like Murong would be seen as too risky, too controversial. He just wouldn’t fit into that culture. He focuses too much on the dark side. As you know, the big government slogan for the past few years has been this “harmonious society,” so he’s very much “unconstructive” in the way he focuses on negative things in society. The broadcast of the TV version of Leave Me Alone was delayed in the run up to the CPC Congress in 2007 for just that reason – it conflicted with the party line. The negativity in Murong’s work is really striking when you compare it to official public discourse in China. It’s such a contrast to the party line. Is that negativity common in online writing, or is the tone of online work quite varied? It is varied but I think it’s fair to say that one characteristic of online writing is that it has opened the door for writers to deal with darker or more unorthodox themes. There are a number of examples of that aside from Murong. But one po
