June 2023 – Charles Ray

June 27, 2023, Berlin, Germany

Chinese-born author Geling Yan 嚴歌苓 has suffered under an informal ban on her work by the Chinese government since March 2020, when she wrote and promulgated an essay criticizing the Chinese government’s initial actions after the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic:

English：

https://paper-republic.org/pubs/read/hide-hide-hide/

Chinese：

https://www.chinesepen.org/blog/archives/145708

Her credit from a major motion picture by Zhang Yimou, One Second, the leitmotiv of which was based on her novel The Criminal Lu Yanshi, was even ordered removed by the Chinese government:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/23/movies/zhang-yimou-movie.html

https://www.chinesepen.org/blog/archives/188075

Chinese Independent PEN stood in solidarity with her:

https://www.chinesepen.org/english/she-is-not-alone-a-joint-statement#more-8754

…and awarded her its “Freedom Prize for Writing” for 2022:

https://www.chinesepen.org/blog/archives/188421

https://www.chinesepen.org/blog/archives/188465

Since her ban, Ms. Yan has continued to write and create, but she has had no outlet for her publication or film projects in China. As a result, she and her husband, Lawrence A. Walker 王樂仁，have set up a publishing and film production company in Berlin, Germany, where they reside: New Song Media GmbH.

www.newsongmedia.de

The company’s mission is stated here: https://www.newsongmedia.de/about

The company has just published Ms. Yan’s first novel in Chinese outside Greater China: Milati 米拉帝。It is now available as a print book and an e-book on online booksellers’ websites and will soon be available in Chinese-language bookstores.

Amazon.com:

https://www.amazon.com/%E7%B1%B3%E6%8B%89%E8%92%82-Milati-Chinese-Geling-Yan/dp/3910769012?ref_=ast_author_dp

Amazon Kindle:

https://www.amazon.com/Milati-Traditional-Chinese-Geling-Yan-ebook/dp/B0C8GYT988?ref_=ast_author_dp

Barnes and Noble

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/milati-geling-yan/1143650968?ean=9783910769014

Multiple print and e-book booksellers:

https://books2read.com/u/b5WD81

The book, also available in a deluxe collectors’ edition co-published with World Chinese Weekly Publishing Company Inc.（世界华人周刊出版集团） will be launched at an event in Vancouver, B.C., Canada on July 9, also including the launch of works by the poet Yang Lian 楊煉 and his wife, the novelist and painter Yoyo 友友：

The event will be held in Chinese, so the information about it is mostly in Chinese:

严歌苓、杨炼、友友温哥华首场读者见面会