Teacher held over 'porn' novel released

Teacher held over 'porn' novel released
By Priscilla Jiao
Oct 01, 2010

A high school teacher accused of spreading pornography in an online novel about saunas in Dongguan, Guangdong, that serve as fronts for brothels has been released from detention after three days following a wave of public support for his cause.

Yuan Lei, a 29-year-old Chinese literature teacher at the Beijiao High School in Foshan's Shunde district, was granted bail pending trial on Wednesday night and sent a text message to his wife at about 11pm saying that he would be home in two hours. He was driven back to Shunde by Dongguan police in pouring rain, arriving home at 3am yesterday.

"I would like to maintain my peaceful life here and be a good teacher," Yuan said at home yesterday.

He said he was not in a position to comment about whether his release was a result of public pressure, just saying: "I am grateful to supportive people."

Yuan said he preferred not to talk too much at this "sensitive" time. "I need to think straight and get my thoughts together about how to talk to the media," he said.

Yuan's lawyer Rao Yi said police were continuing to collect evidence and would have the novel assessed by a qualified organisation.

He said Yuan was hoping to co-operate with the police and close the case as soon as possible.

Yuan, using his pen name Tianya Blue Pharmacist, updated his 390,000-word novel In Dongguan on Tianya.cn , the most popular online forum on the mainland, from June to October last year. The novel has received more than two million hits.

The book's introduction said it "depicted a hidden, unknown world with love stories of the post-80s generation, Dongguan sauna massages and adult life". Yuan was taken from his school office by plain-clothes police on Sunday.

Guangdong police said on their Sina microblog on Wednesday that they were still gathering evidence to assess the novel. "The case will be closed if the novel cannot be assessed as obscene," they said.

After the microblog entry was posted, hundreds of comments quickly appeared, lashing out at the "unregulated detention". The police later removed the entry.

Hao Jinsong, a legal activist and founder of the Public Interest Lawyer Centre, said the outcry and pressure had compelled Yuan's release. "Without it, he would still be in detention," he said.

Source: South China Morning Post
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