Literary Censorship and Cultural Policy in Today's China

Michel Hockx

October 22, 2025 / 18:30-20:00

Room 301, 3F, building 10, Sophia University

In person only / No registration required

Ever since the start of the reform era in the late 1970s, there has been an understanding between the Chinese leadership and Chinese writers that literature need no longer function as propaganda, the way it was expected to under Mao. The current leader Xi Jinping, in his public statements about literature, has maintained this consensus and often confirmed the independent aesthetic value of writing. At the same time, though, PRC cultural regulatory institutions are attempting to push literary writing and writers in a specific direction, often using moral rather than political arguments. Much ideological pressure is also being exerted on publishers and authors of online genre fiction, which has developed into a major cultural industry. This lecture takes a close look at some of the policies and places them in the context of the global study of censorship and literature.

Michel Hockx is a professor of Chinese Literature in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and the Director of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies in the Keough School of Global Affairs.

He has published widely, both in English and in Chinese, on topics related to modern Chinese poetry and literary culture, especially early 20th-century Chinese magazine literature and print culture and contemporary Internet literature. His latest book, Internet Literature in China, was listed by Choice magazine as one of the “Top 25 Outstanding Academic Titles of 2015.” His ongoing research focuses on the effects of moral censorship on the preservation and digitization of modern Chinese cultural products.

This talk was organized by Christian Hess (Professor, Sophia University) with a generous support from the Notre Dame Club of Japan.