BEIJING — In the risqué world of online erotica in China, “Lady Tianyi,” as her fans called her, was a star. She wrote more than a dozen novels in a genre known as “boys’ love.” With titles like “Absolute Invasion: Kill the Boss,” she built a loyal following of tens of thousands of fans.

Now Tianyi, whose real name is unknown, faces more than a decade in prison, after a court in eastern China found her guilty last month of “producing and selling pornography,” the state-run news media reported over the weekend.

Her punishment captured national attention in recent days, with many Chinese citizens denouncing it as harsh and excessive. In tens of thousands of unusually blunt online comments, many questioned the fairness of the judicial system and said that the government was going too far in its efforts to stop the spread of obscene material.

“Pornography is a normal need of adulthood,” one user wrote on Sina Weibo, a Twitterlike site. “Where’s the crime?” Read more via New York Times

中国耽美小说作者因制作贩卖淫秽物品获刑十年

北京——在中国网络的小黄文世界里，她是个明星，粉丝们称她为“天一太太”。她写了十多部耽美题材的小说。凭借《绝对侵占：干死老板》这样的书名，赢得了成千上万的忠实粉丝。

现在，真名不详的天一正面临十年以上的监禁。中国的官方媒体上周末报道，中国东部一法院上月裁定，她犯有“制作、贩卖淫秽物品牟利罪”。

最近几天，她的判决引起了全国关注，许多中国公民谴责量刑太严厉、太过分。在成千上万条异常直言不讳的网络评论中，许多人质疑司法系统的公正，并表示政府在阻止淫秽物品传播方面做得太过不遗余力。

“色情作品是成年人的正常需求，”一名用户在类似Twitter的网站新浪微博上写道，“哪里是犯罪？”

China: Erotic novel author jailed for producing gay pornography

A CHINESE court sentenced the author of a gay erotic novel to more than a decade in prison on Sunday for producing and selling pornographic material. “Lady Tianyi,” as her fans called her, wrote more than a dozen novels in a genre known as “boys’ love.” She caught the attention of authorities after her book Gongzhan, translated as Occupy, went viral last year.

Police in her hometown of Wuhu in Anhui province said the novel was “full of perverted sexual acts such as violation and abuse.”

Liu – as the Global Times identifies the author – received the harsh sentence of 10 and a half years in large part due to the popularity of her novel. Liu reportedly sold 7,000 copies of Occupy and made a profit of 150,000 yuan (US$21,600).

Free-speech campaigners have slammed the ruling and questioned China’s “flagrant disregard for fundamental human rights.” “This sentence is clearly outrageous,” Karin Karlekar, PEN America’s Director of Free Expression, said in a statement.