Chinese cops are cuffing erotica
Local police have found a perverse way to raise money
“IN MY TWENTY years of life, I never thought my first flight would be to a Lanzhou police station.” So wrote one young woman who, in the past few weeks, says she was ordered to leave her home and report to authorities in the faraway capital of Gansu province, in the parched northwest. Her supposed crime was profiting from posting erotic stories on a website dedicated to danmei—online fiction that depicts romantic and sexual relationships between men, but which is largely written by (and for) straight women.
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This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “Giant cuffs”
From the June 28th 2025 edition
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