Chinese Nobel-winning author targeted in patriotic lawsuit

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — His writing won China’s first Nobel Prize for Literature, but is it patriotic enough for Xi Jinping’s China? That’s the question at the center of a high-profile lawsuit that has driven a debate about nationalism in China in recent weeks.

Patriotic campaigns have become more common in recent years in China, as online nationalists attack journalists, writers or other public figures they say have offended the country’s dignity, but it is unusual for a figure as prominent as Mo Yan to be targeted.

Patriotic blogger Wu Wanzheng, who goes by “Truth-Telling Mao Xinghuo” online, filed suit against the novelist last month under a 2018 law that made insulting heroes and martyrs a crime punishable by up to three years in prison. Wu claims that Mo’s books smeared the ruling Communist Party’s reputation, “beautified” enemy Japanese soldiers and insulted former revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.

The law is part of Xi’s campaign to fight “historical nihilism,” a catch-all phrase the party uses for any interpretation of historical events that runs counter to its official narrative.

Mo, whose real name is Guan Moye, won the Nobel in 2012. He is known for portraying rural life in China and delving into some of the downsides of the country’s rapid economic development.

“Literature and art should expose the darkness and injustice of society,” he said in 2005 while accepting an honorary doctorate from a Hong Kong university. But the 69-year-old has had few conflicts with Beijing.

In 2011, he became vice chairman of the state-backed Chinese Writers Association. After he received the Nobel a year later, a top party official praised him as an “outstanding representative” of China’s rising economic might and international