MCLC: Meng Lang publisher of banned books

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Ben Garvey <b.garveyx at gmail.com>
Subject: Meng Lang publisher of banned books
***********************************************************

Source: Time Out (6/6/12):
http://www.timeout.com.hk/big-smog/features/51400/meng-lang.htmlMeng Lang

Private publisher of China¹s banned books
By Shirley Zhao

All of a sudden, books about Bo Xilai, China¹s falling political star,
are thriving in Hong Kong. They are ­ literally ­ red hot. They may
look similar in title, cover and perhaps even in contents, but there¹s
no denying their presence in bookstores, on newspaper stalls and in
the hands of MTR passengers.

But this happens all the time, doesn¹t it? When books are banned on
the Mainland, they become hot property here. Not so, according to Meng
Lang, a city publisher who¹s behind some of these politically
sensitive tomes. ³This is very rare,² he says. ³Since Wang Lijun¹s
[Chongqing¹s police chief and Bo Xilai¹s right-hand man] incident in
March, I¹ve seen more than 30 different books on the Bo Xilai fiasco.
It¹s the first time I¹ve seen something like this happen in Hong
Kong.²

Meng could see this as his time in the sun, with plenty of new Bo
Xilai reads on the way and book sales ringing in tills across the
city. But he isn¹t so sure. ³In Hong Kong these books are aimed at a
small market. I¹ve only published two books on Bo Xilai ­ compilations
of some raw materials. We don¹t tell stories because I think it¹s
better to present readers with original information and let them make
their own judgements.²

Owning two publishing houses, Morning Bell Press and Fountain Head
Press, Meng, who is also a poet, doesn¹t even have an office. He¹s
what you call a true private publisher. Among his books are A
Tiananmen Journal by Feng Congde, and Hu Yaobang and Political Reform
in China, written by a group of authors and reprinted this year.

Wearing a thick, Ai Weiwei-style beard, this 50-year-old is hard to
miss. In fact he is working on a biography of Ai Weiwei too. ³There
are biographies of various human rights activists and there is a
biography of Ai¹s mother ­ but there¹s never been one on Ai Weiwei,
one of the most world-renowned Chinese artists and human rights
fighters. Hopefully I can get this book out before mid-June.²

Before Meng came to Hong Kong, his publications didn¹t heavily involve
politics. Born and raised in Shanghai, he was among the first
generation of people who went to college after the
intellectual-purging Cultural Revolution. From the early 1980s to
early 90s, he published several of what he calls Œunderground
literature magazines¹. ³At that time mass communications were tightly
controlled,² he says. ³Private publications were illegal. Typewriters
were also controlled ­ and you needed a reference letter to buy one.²

Despite the tough environment, Meng managed to publish his first
magazine, MN, in 1981 with two of his college friends. ³The first
issue only had 20-odd pages and the circulation was only 60,² he
recalls. ³But it was an important victory because such a publication
would be deemed as a challenge to authority ­ and we could have been
put into jail. Actually, the magazine was only about poems and
journals, with no politics at all. We were just literature guys who
wanted to express our own ideology but the society back then would not
allow that.²

Meng was invited to Brown University in the USA as a
writer-in-residence in 1995 and he stayed in America until moving to
Hong Kong in 2006. He calls his time in America ­ where he was also
the executive editor of a Boston-based Chinese literature and humanity
magazine ­ a Œself-exile¹. ³Now I¹m in a process of home-returning,²
he muses.

So why did he start to publish more politically sensitive books?
³China is at a turning point,² he explains. ³The Communist Party wants
to control everything but with the development of the society, the
internet being used more widely and people being more open-minded,
there are more and more things which are impossible to control. The
result is a chaotic status quo. And in the midst of the trend, I want
to do something to my home country as a citizen, now that I¹m so
close.²

The key to changing this chaotic situation, according to Meng, is to
create a civil society where people can enjoy freedom of speech, press
freedom and judicial independence, where Œuniversal values¹ are
well-respected. ³I witnessed China progressing from closed to open,²
he says, ³and I hope China will have a bright future. It¹s not
politics but people¹s basic hope to survive. It¹s the same across the
world.²

Another reason, Meng says, is that literature has no market in Hong
Kong. ³These days, not many people would like to spend time reading
online, let alone in print. I always say ours is a sunset industry.²
In this sense, does it become a matter of survival? Says Meng: ³You
can¹t pay for your food by writing poems ­ but you [can] by publishing
banned books.²