Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communication is freaking out over what it describes as a flash flood of “oversentimental sex fiction of Chinese origin” somehow making its way into the country.
That’s right, Vietnamese bookstores are being overrun with “rubbish Chinese fiction which is rife with mawkish and sexual elements,” a local newspaper reports.
According to Tuoi Tre, there are two sub-genres of erotic novel that are being snatched up by Vietnamese teenagers and young adults faster than publishers can print them.
“One comprises shoddily written soppy stories which depict promiscuous characters and their casual sexual relationships,” the newspaper claims.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Sounds hot.
“The other,” the paper continues, “is those in which the writers make it a point to describe sex scenes between characters in great, obscene detail … Among hugely popular stories are those depicting in great depth homosexual relationships.”
Even better!
The books have proved to be incredibly lucrative for Vietnamese publishers, with many titles retailing for nearly $30 US and selling millions–yes, millions–of copies. Tuoi Tre reports that some of the titles have been read “over 10 million times and receive some thousands of comments.”
Seriously, we’ve got to get our hands on one of these novels!
Ministry of Information and Communications publishing department director Chu Van Hoas says the books are toxic and is urging publishers to cease distributing the material both in print and online.
Rather than shutting down publishers or websites, however, the government plans to issue fines to any companies caught publishing the sexually graphic books, as well as encourage online platforms to monitor the kind of material it published by users.
Hmmm. 10 million copies at $30 US a pop. For some reason, we don’t see this “problem” going away any time soon.
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Saint Law
“sentimental…rubbish…rife with mawkish and sexual elements.”
Ah. Gay fiction really is the same the world over.
Clark35
What are the titles of the books?
Natalie Kennedy
I love Gay erotica.
Kangol
Given that Vietnam has 90 million+ people (did you know Vietnam was that populous?) and given that the Communist leadership there decided to trade rigid ideological purity for a semi-capitalist system, this situation is one of the obvious results.
People want entertainment, and if it’s available and interesting and feels new, they’re going to go for it. China wouldn’t allow novels like this with politically liberatory storylines, but if it’s hot sex but the participants are good party members, I imagine they look the other way.
Thad1527
There’s a large Vietnamese community in the USA, so these books are likely available here. The language barrier probably stops most Queerty readers from them. But Vietnamese is written using the Roman letters English readers are familiar with; it looks less intimidating than most Asian languages. This is because it wasn’t a written language until French missionaries arrived in Vietnam.
Merv
Are these books translated to Vietnamese, or is fluency in Chinese so widespread in Vietnam that it supports a market this large? Learning to read Chinese is not exactly easy.