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<div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">MCLC LIST</span></font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">From: Lucas Klein <<a href="mailto:LRKlein@cityu.edu.hk">LRKlein@cityu.edu.hk</a>></span></font></div>
<div><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Subject: Nobel roundup</span></font></div>
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<font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Hi, MCLC—</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<o:p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"> </span></font></o:p></p>
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<font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">I’ve written the following for my blog on Xi Chuan and Chinese poetry (</span></font><a href="http://xichuanpoetry.com/?p=1484" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">http://xichuanpoetry.com/?p=1484</span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">),
but which has, for obvious reasons, recently taken a turn to covering news about Mo Yan’s Nobel. The post mostly consists of links, many (though not all) of which have already circulated on this list, which I narrate with as little editorializing as possible.
Towards the end, though, I make a point about translation and reports of Mo Yan’s views on censorship that I thought worth sharing here. Thanks to A E Clark for pointing out the reference to Liu Xiaobo in Mo Yan’s Nobel speech; despite his point that “It's
hard not to see here a veiled allusion to Liu Xiaobo's empty chair in Oslo,” no one else seems to have put these two together.</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Lucas</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">=======================================================</span></font></p>
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<o:p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"> </span></font></o:p></p>
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<font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Source: </span></font><a href="http://xichuanpoetry.com/?p=1484"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">http://xichuanpoetry.com/?p=1484</span></font></a></p>
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<b><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Mo Yan & Liu Xiaobo: Another Nobel Roundup</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Mo Yan </span></font><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">莫言</span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"> has
given his </span></font><a href="http://xichuanpoetry.com/?p=1463" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Nobel acceptance speech</span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">,
but that doesn’t mean the debates about whether he deserved the award have stopped–or that older pieces haven’t been resurfacing.</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">A good deal of the debate focuses on the contrast between Mo Yan and </span></font><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Xiaobo" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Liu
Xiaobo</span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"> </span></font><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">刘</span></font></span><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">晓波</span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">,
the imprisoned critic who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010. Larry Siems and Jeffrey Yang (my editor at </span></font><a href="http://ndbooks.com/" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">New
Directions</span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">) make the case in “</span></font><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/18/opinion/chinas-nobels.html" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">China’s
Nobels</span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">” that while Liu is “is serving an 11-year sentence for ‘inciting subversion of state power’ in his writings” (while his wife is under </span></font><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/06/liu-xiaobo-wife-absurd-interview" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">house
arrest</span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">), Mo Yan “has done little to jeopardize his status as one of the country’s most honored writers.” Yang is the translator of Liu’s poems
assembled in </span></font><em><a href="http://www.graywolfpress.org/component/page,shop.flypage/product_id,372/category_id,19a9582ebf45dab49dc9cb9bb37480e4/option,com_phpshop/" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">June
Fourth Elegies</span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"> </span></font></em><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">念年六四</span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">,
which has just been noted as one of Poets.org’s </span></font><a href="http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/618" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Notable
Books </span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">of 2012. Yang and Siems do note that despite the difference between the two Nobels, their stories do converge: “Mo Yan, who had previously
pleaded ignorance of his countryman’s case, told reporters that he hoped that Mr. Liu ‘can achieve his freedom as soon as possible’ and that he should be free to research his ‘politics and social system.’” Another editor of a recent Liu Xiaobo publication
in English, however, Perry Link, editor of </span></font><em><a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674061477" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">No
Enemies, No Hatred: Selected and Poems </span></font></a></em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">of Liu Xiaobo, is less impressed: in “</span></font><a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/dec/06/mo-yan-nobel-prize/?pagination=false" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Does
This Writer Deserve the Nobel Prize?</span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">” Link speculates, “Was Mo Yan’s ‘in good health’ phrase something that Chinese authorities had supplied to
him, perhaps to prepare the way in international opinion for Liu Xiaobo’s ‘seeking medical treatment abroad’?”</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">In his Nobel speech, Mo Yan says, “I would like you to find the patience to read my books” </span></font><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">我希望你</span></font></span><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">们能耐心地读一下我的书</span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">.
Many commentators have read the speech, such as Chad Post at </span></font><a href="http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent/index.php?id=5312" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Three
Percent</span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">, or Mark McDonald, who notices “</span></font><a href="http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/garlands-and-mud-for-nobel-laureate-from-china/" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">‘Garlands
and Mud’ for New Nobel Laureate from China</span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">,” or Adam Minter, whose “</span></font><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-11/mo-yan-s-nobel-parable-of-a-patsy-.html" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Mo
Yan’s Nobel: Parable of a Patsy?</span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">” looks at the controversy both outside of China and in, but they don’t seem to notice that one of the stories
Mo Yan tells in his lecture about an empty chair–</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">More than thirty years ago, when I was in the army, I was in my office reading one evening when an elderly officer
opened the door and came in. He glanced down at the seat in front of me and muttered, “Hm, where is everyone?” I stood up and said in a loud voice, “Are you saying I’m no one?” The old fellow’s ears turned red from embarrassment, and he walked out. For a long
time after that I was proud about what I consider a gutsy performance. Years later, that pride turned to intense qualms of conscience.</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; "><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">三十多年前，我</span></font></span><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">还在部队工作。有一天晚上，我在办公室看书，有一位老长官推门进来，看了一眼我对面的位置，自言自语道：</span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">“</span></font><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">噢，没有人？</span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">”</span></font><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">我随即站起</span></font></span><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"> </span></font></span><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">来，高声</span></font></span><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">说：</span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">“</span></font><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">难道我不是人吗？</span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">”</span></font><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">那位老</span></font></span><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">长官被我顶得面红耳赤，尴尬而退。为此</span></font></span><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">事，我洋洋得意了</span></font></span><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">许久，以为自己是个英勇的斗士，但事过多年后，我却为此深</span></font></span><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"> </span></font></span><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">感内疚。</span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">–seems to invoke the empty chair of Liu Xiaobo’s Nobel Peace prize two years ago.</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Nor do many commentators seem to have read his books very closely. Andrea Lingenfelter, who has, though, says in
her review of his forthcoming novel </span></font><em><a href="http://quarterlyconversation.com/pow-by-mo-yan" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Pow!</span></font></a></em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"> (translated,
as always, by Howard Goldblatt) that it, “like the bulk of Mo Yan’s other novels, is a social and political critique”; interestingly, when I first caught her review online I remember it being less patient with criticisms of Mo Yan’s politics. Perhaps she was
convinced by Link’s article, or Mo Yan’s defense of censorship.</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">As for his remarks on censorship, under the headline “</span></font><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/07/mo-yan-censorship-nobel" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Censorship
is a must, says China’s Nobel winner</span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">,” the </span></font><em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Guardian </span></font></em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">reports
that he “defended censorship as something as necessary as airport security checks.” This, unsurprisingly, has gathered lots of commentary: Publishing Perspectives asks, “</span></font><a href="http://publishingperspectives.com/2012/12/mo-yan-defends-censorship-as-necessary-but-is-it/" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">is
it?</span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">” and Canada’s </span></font><em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Globe & Mail</span></font></em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"> says
“</span></font><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/editorials/nobel-literature-prize-winner-endorses-censorship-and-thats-just-wrong/article6078434/" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">that’s
just wrong</span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">.” </span></font><a href="http://www.salon.com/2012/12/07/rushdie_mo_yan_is_a_patsy_of_the_regime/" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Salman
Rushdie </span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">concludes Mo Yan is “a patsy of the régime,” while </span></font><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/13/mo-yan-salman-rushdie-censorship?fb=optOut" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Pankaj
Mishra </span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">says Rushdie “should pause before condemning Mo Yan.” But look at what he said in </span></font><a href="http://www.kouyi.org/press/1928.html" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Chinese</span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">:</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; "><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">我反感所有的</span></font></span><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">检查。我去大使馆办签证，他们也要检查。我坐飞机出海关，他们也要检查，甚至要解下腰带，拖鞋检查。但是我想</span></font></span><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"> </span></font></span><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">这些检查是必要的，我从来没有赞</span></font></span><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"> </span></font></span><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">美</span></font></span><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">过新闻检查这种制度，但是我也认为新闻检查在世界上每个国家都是存在的。但是这种检查的尺度，检查的方式不一样。如果没有新闻检查，这个人就可以在报纸</span></font></span><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"> </span></font></span><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">上或者是</span></font></span><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">电视上攻击其他人，诽谤其他人。这个我</span></font></span><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">想在任何一个国家都是一</span></font></span><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">样的。但是我希望所有新闻检查应该有最高准则：只要不违背事实真相的都不应该检查，</span></font></span><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"> </span></font></span><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">违背了事实真相造谣和诬蔑的都应该受到检查</span></font></span><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">。</span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">The word he uses is </span></font><em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">jiancha</span></font></em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">,
usually translated as “check,” either as a verb or a noun, rather than “censorship,” which my dictionary tells me would be </span></font><em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">shencha</span></font></em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"> </span></font><span lang="ZH-CN"><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">审查</span></font></span><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">. </span></font><em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Jiancha</span></font></em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"> is,
of course, related to security checks, which should help explain his comparison. And as I read it, he doesn’t say that checks </span></font><em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">should</span></font></em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"> exist
but that they </span></font><em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">do </span></font></em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">exist. I would
give a rough translation of the passage as:</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">I’m disgusted with checks of all kinds. When I go to the embassy for a visa, I get checked. When I take an airplane
and go through customs, I get checked, even have to take off my belt and shoes. But I figure these checks must be necessary, and while I’ve never praised the system of checks on the news, I believe that checks on the news must exist in every country in the
world. But measuring checks like this, the method of checking is different. If there were no checks on the news, somebody could go off in the newspapers or on TV and attack someone, or slander someone. I imagine it’s the same in any country. But I would hope
all checks on the news adhered to the highest principle: as long as it doesn’t violate the truth it shouldn’t be checked, but rumormongering and defamation that violates the truth should be put under check.</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">In a related point, Mo Yan was cited in a </span></font><em><a href="http://xichuanpoetry.com/Mo%20Yan%20is%20adamant%20that%20he%20never%20worries%20about%20censorship%20when%20choosing%20what%20to%20write%20about.%20%22There%20are%20certain%20restrictions%20on%20writing%20in%20every%20country,%22%20he%20says,%20adding%20that%20the%20inability%20to%20attack%20some%20topics%20head%20on%20is%20actually%20an%20advantage.%20Such%20limitations%20make%20a%20writer%20%22conform%20to%20the%20aesthetics%20of%20literature,%22%20Mo%20Yan%20argues.%20%22One%20of%20the%20biggest%20problems%20in%20literature%20is%20the%20lack%20of%20subtlety.%20A%20writer%20should%20bury%20his%20thoughts%20deep%20and%20convey%20them%20through%20the%20characters%20in%20his%20novel.%22%20%20Read%20more:%20http:/www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1973183,00.html#ixzz2EqVAOMhi" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Time
Magazine </span></font></a></em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">feature two years ago:</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0.5in; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Mo Yan is adamant that he never worries about censorship when choosing what to write about. “There are certain
restrictions on writing in every country,” he says, adding that the inability to attack some topics head on is actually an advantage. Such limitations make a writer “conform to the aesthetics of literature,” Mo Yan argues. “One of the biggest problems in literature
is the lack of subtlety. A writer should bury his thoughts deep and convey them through the characters in his novel.”</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">You may disagree. You may find this naïve. You may feel like security checks and censorship are not the same, and that the kinds of governmental controls on the
news he imagines do not exist in your country and should not exist in his. You may feel that the restrictions on writing inherent to literature are of a different order from the restrictions on writing imposed by the government, and that writers can be subtle
without having to worry about censorship. You may feel like the “highest principle” he wishes for is a pipe dream, that as long as the state has power to limit speech it will use that power, and the only high principle is the principle of freedom. I certainly
think all those things. That is different, however, from claiming that Mo Yan advocates, let alone celebrates, censorship. I’ve written about </span></font><a href="http://xichuanpoetry.com/?p=1087" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">problems
of translation</span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"> in English-language reporting on China before; this example, in which reporters have treated the word </span></font><em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">jiancha </span></font></em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">as
if it were </span></font><em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">shencha</span></font></em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">, is more
of the same.</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Finally for the commentary, Charles Laughlin argues, in “</span></font><a href="http://www.chinafile.com/what-mo-yan%E2%80%99s-detractors-get-wrong" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">What
Mo Yan’s Detractors Get Wrong</span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">” (an article that mentions Xi Chuan) that “when discussing the merits of Mo Yan’s receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature,
I think it is misleading for us to compare its validity to that of awarding the Peace Prize to Liu.”</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Meanwhile, in Stockholm, people are </span></font><a href="http://www.svt.se/nyheter/sverige/naken-man-greps-utanfor-nobelfesten" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">running
naked </span></font></a><a href="http://hk.news.yahoo.com/%E8%8E%AB%E8%A8%80%E9%A0%98%E7%8D%8E-%E6%B5%81%E4%BA%A1%E4%BD%9C%E5%AE%B6-%E7%99%BE%E5%B9%B4%E5%A4%A7%E9%86%9C%E8%81%9E-210631842.html" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">in
protest </span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">or else</span></font><a href="http://beijingcream.com/2012/12/in-honor-of-mo-yan-chinese-students-in-stockholm-organize-red-sorghum-flashmob/" target="_blank" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"> flash-mobbing</span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"> </span></font><em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">Red
Sorghum</span></font></em><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"> style</span></font><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<a href="http://xichuanpoetry.com/?p=1484" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;">http://xichuanpoetry.com/?p=1484</span></font></a><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<o:p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"> </span></font></o:p></p>
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<o:p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"> </span></font></o:p></p>
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<o:p><font class="Apple-style-span" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px;"> </span></font></o:p></p>
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