Nobel Prize-winning author Mo Yan is being sued in China for ‘distorting history’

The Chinese Nobel Prize-winning author Mo Yan is being sued for allegedly insulting national heroes. NPR’s Scott Simon speaks to Cornell Professor Jessica Chen Weiss about the case.

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Mo Yan was hailed when he won China’s first Nobel Prize for literature in 2012, but he is now under attack from Chinese nationalists, who claim that his novels depicting rural life in China, quote, “distort history.” One prominent blogger is suing the author for allegedly insulting national heroes, a crime that’s punishable by up to three years in prison. Jessica Chen Weiss joins us. She’s a professor for China and Asia Pacific studies at Cornell University. Professor Weiss, thanks so much for being with us.

JESSICA CHEN WEISS: My pleasure.

SIMON: Mo Yan is not generally thought of as a dissident. What prompted this lawsuit?

CHEN WEISS: Well, Mo Yan’s attracted a fair bit of attention, and in recent years, the party has really become increasingly concerned about what it sees as the roots of the Soviet Union’s collapse, including critical reevaluation of history and the appeal of Western ideas. And so, really, under Xi Jinping, the Chinese Communist Party leadership has been emphasizing the dangers of what they call, quote, “historical nihilism,” which are views that call into question the sort of positive patriotic narratives that the CCP has used to justify its continued rule. So there have been a variety of laws created to kind of codify these efforts to promote, quote, “a common historical memory” and punish those who would appear to be harming the good reputations of Chinese heroes and martyrs, including this law that’s the basis of the suit against Mo Yan.

SIMON: Professor Weiss, what did anybody find particularly objectionable about the writings of Mo Yan?

CHEN WEISS: Well, the lawsuit claims that his books have smeared the Chinese Communist Party’s reputation by, quote-unquote, “beautifying” enemy Japanese…