After Haruki Murakami novel ban, five other Hong Kong censorship controversies
Celebrated Japanese writer’s new novel, deemed indecent by a tribunal, joins a book about two penguins, rooftop sculptures, and a ballet touching on recent Chinese history in the cross hairs of city censors or the politically correct
One of the city’s annual literary highlights, the Hong Kong Book Fair, hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons over the weekend when the latest work by Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami was banned from the event after being deemed “indecent” by the Obscene Articles Tribunal.
The novel, titled Kishidancho Goroshi, or Killing Commendatore, was temporarily classified as “Class II – indecent materials,” according to a notice issued by the tribunal last week. The classification means the book had to be removed from all the fair’s booths, and can now only be sold in city bookstores with its cover wrapped and a warning about its content.
Access to ‘indecent’ Murakami novel restricted at Hong Kong public libraries
Like much of Murakami’s work, the book includes occasional sex, but Dr Lee Hoi-lam, a modern literature instructor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, says the tribunal’s decision was “without rhyme or reason” as it had come half a year after the novel was first published.
“In the book, sex is depicted for valid purposes, such as to reflect the main character’s emotional changes, instead of to arouse sexual pleasure among readers,” says Lee.
Attempts at cultural censorship is nothing new in Hong Kong. Here are five other examples.
