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‘Nobody dares speak out’: Exiled Chinese writer decries censorship
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Meet the writer: Exiled Chinese writer Murong Xuecun poses for photos after an interview in Melbourne, Australia, on Thursday. (AFP/William West)
M
urong Xuecun was one of the brightest stars of China's literary scene, his novels offering searing critiques of contemporary social issues that few other writers dared to imitate.
But after a decade of diminishing freedom of speech under President Xi Jinping, he could not publish in his own country and was eventually forced into exile.
His fate mirrors that of many liberal Chinese intellectuals who tried to shine a light on the system and then fled abroad, were imprisoned or fell silent.
The 48-year-old writer, whose real name is Hao Qun, left China in August last year after writing Deadly Quiet City, a non-fiction account of the 2020 Wuhan COVID-19 lockdown released in March.
His Australian publisher believed he would "definitely get arrested" after the book's release, Murong said from his home in Melbourne.
"They urged me to leave immediately."
Murong got to Wuhan in April 2020, taking huge risks to interview the relatives of people lost to a mysterious and deadly virus ravaging the city, and residents who faced food and medical shortages because of the lockdown.
