{"id":2651055,"date":"2026-08-28T09:16:55","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T13:16:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignhow-chinas-attempt-to-ban-a-book-backfired\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T09:35:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T13:35:56","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignhow-chinas-attempt-to-ban-a-book-backfired","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignhow-chinas-attempt-to-ban-a-book-backfired\/","title":{"rendered":"How China\u2019s Attempt To Ban A Book Backfired"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Futm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignhow-chinas-attempt-to-ban-a-book-backfired%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2651055&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>On July 15, 2026, Hong Kong security police raided two independent bookstores and arrested five people for displaying and selling seditious publications under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/canadian-olympic-committee-warns-athletes-not-to-criticize-china\/\" title=\"Canadian Olympic Committee Warns Athletes Not to Criticize ...\">national security laws<\/a>, including emily feng\u2019s book &#8220;Let Only Red Flowers Bloom,&#8221; which explores identity and belonging in Xi Jinping\u2019s china.Feng, an american journalist of chinese descent, previously served as NPR\u2019s Beijing correspondent and faced harassment and restrictions by Chinese authorities due to her reporting on issues like Uyghur detention and press freedom. Her case exemplifies China&#8217;s tightening control over media, expelling foreign journalists and denouncing ethnic Chinese reporters. After being barred from China, Feng moved to Taiwan, where she wrote this collection of personal stories illustrating how China&#8217;s political and cultural policies suppress individual identities, promote conformity, and target minorities and dissenters. The book discusses specific cases like the &#8220;chained woman&#8221; victim of human trafficking, linked to the effects of the one-child policy, and offers insight into the regime\u2019s fear of losing power, likened to Mao\u2019s failed campaigns.Despite attempts to ban her book, its demand grew, symbolizing silent resistance against authoritarian conformity. Feng\u2019s nuanced work highlights how ordinary lives challenge China&#8217;s oppressive policies, making reading her book an act of subtle defiance.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>On July 15, 2026, Hong Kong national security police <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/jul\/16\/hong-kong-bookstore-bookshop-raids-arrests\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">raided<\/a> two independent bookstores and arrested five people on suspicion of displaying and selling publications with \u201cseditious intention\u201d under the city\u2019s national security laws. One of the books <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/jul\/23\/taiwan-hong-kong-independent-bookstore-raids-china-censorship\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reportedly<\/a> seized was Emily Feng\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Let-Only-Red-Flowers-Bloom\/dp\/0593594223\/ref=asc_df_0593594223?tag=bingshoppinga-20&#038;linkCode=df0&#038;hvadid=80058400532480&#038;hvnetw=o&#038;hvqmt=e&#038;hvbmt=be&#038;hvdev=c&#038;hvlocint=&#038;hvlocphy=66645&#038;hvtargid=pla-4583657880087314&#038;psc=1&#038;hvocijid=16713979043325340143-0593594223-&#038;hvexpln=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Let Only Red Flowers Bloom: Identity and Belonging in Xi Jinping\u2019s China<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Feng is an American journalist born to Chinese parents in Connecticut. From 2019 to 2022, she served as an international correspondent for National Public Radio in Beijing, where her reporting highlighted critical issues such as the mass incarceration of Uyghur Muslims. In 2022, after a reporting trip, Chinese authorities <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2025\/03\/19\/nx-s1-5178087\/in-new-book-nprs-emily-feng-explores-identity-after-china-refused-to-let-her-return\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">barred<\/a> her from returning.<\/p>\n<p>Her case reflects a broader pattern of the regime\u2019s tightening grip on press freedom. Spring 2020 saw China <a href=\"https:\/\/r.search.yahoo.com\/_ylt=AwrO8Du96nBqoQIANvZXNyoA;_ylu=Y29sbwNncTEEcG9zAzQEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3Ny\/RV=2\/RE=1786994622\/RO=10\/RU=https%3a%2f%2fwww.reuters.com%2farticle%2fworld%2fchina-expels-american-journalists-as-spat-with-us-escalates-idUSKBN2150LO%2f\/RK=2\/RS=S9_ai807CQ0i1W7F_u3eT6Q4T6U-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">expel<\/a> about nineteen reporters from major outlets like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, in retaliation for U.S. restrictions on Chinese state media. In the years that followed, foreign correspondents continued to face <a href=\"https:\/\/opcofamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/2021-FCCC-Report-FINAL.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">visa delays and denials, shortened press credentials, constant surveillance, online smear campaigns, physical obstruction, and threats of legal action<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Ethnic Chinese journalists with foreign passports often endure harsher treatment, because the Communist Party regards all ethnic Chinese, regardless of citizenship, as owing loyalty to the motherland. Therefore, state media labeled Feng a \u201crace traitor\u201d and a \u201cbanana\u201d (yellow on the outside, white on the inside), for her reporting that shed light on the regime\u2019s oppressive practices.<\/p>\n<p>After being denied re-entry to China, Feng relocated to Taiwan. While her personal journey inspired her to write the book, she deliberately keeps herself in the background, allowing the experiences of others to take center stage. The narrative is a collection of intimate portraits of nearly two dozen individuals whose lives intersect with the state\u2019s strict definition of being \u201cgood\u201d Chinese, including a human rights lawyer who lost his license for representing a Hong Kong activist, an Inner Mongolian teacher punished for supporting his mother tongue, and a Uyghur family torn apart by internment camps.<\/p>\n<p>This book stands out for two main reasons. First, while it references important historical events like the incarceration of Uyghurs starting in 2017, the Hong Kong protests of 2019, and Covid pandemic starting in 2020, Feng treats these as backdrops rather than the main focus. As she notes in the preface, \u201cThis is not a history book \u2026 it focuses on people living in the present day.\u201d Second, she weaves individual stories around a central theme of identity, suggesting that understanding the Chinese state\u2019s self-perception and its desired citizenry is crucial to grasping its policies.<\/p>\n<p>Feng argues that Xi Jinping\u2019s greatest fear is that the Chinese Communist Party could face a downfall similar to the Soviet Union. To prevent this, Xi aims to eliminate any opportunities for what he deems \u201cincorrect\u201d ideas and thinking. He seeks to mold the Chinese population into \u201cgood\u201d Chinese: ethnically Han, Mandarin-speaking, without religious beliefs, and loyal to the Party. Anyone outside this narrow definition, whether in ethnicity, language, faith, or political views, must conform.<\/p>\n<p>Feng points out that this restricted identity has driven oppressive policies in China. For instance, children from Mongolian, Tibetan, and Uyghur communities are subjected to Mandarin-only education and political indoctrination, while adults who promote their mother tongues face intimidation or imprisonment. In Xinjiang, millions of Uyghurs have been detained simply for their ethnicity.<\/p>\n<p>This pressure of conformity extends to Han Chinese citizens as well. Dissenters, including lawyers, citizen journalists, feminists, or anyone who speaks out, risk surveillance, job loss, or worse.<\/p>\n<p>One story that resonates particularly strongly is that of the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2025\/03\/05\/world\/asia\/xuzhou-china-chained-woman-incident-activists.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">chained woman<\/a>.\u201d In late January 2022, as Beijing prepared for the Winter Olympics, a video surfaced on Douyin (Chinese version of TikTok) showing a disheveled woman, chained by the neck inside a doorless shed in rural Feng County, Jiangsu. She had given birth to eight children. Officials claimed she was legally married and restrained due to schizophrenia, but the public rejected this absurd explanation.<\/p>\n<p>Public outrage led to investigations revealing that the \u201cchained woman\u201d was a victim of human trafficking. This case exposed the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/magazine-34666440\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">human costs<\/a> of the one-child policy, which resulted in mass female infanticide and a severe gender imbalance, driving many Chinese men, especially in rural areas, to resort to trafficking girls and women for marriage.<\/p>\n<p>To quell public anger, a Xuzhou court sentenced the woman\u2019s husband to nine years in prison and five accomplices to terms ranging from eight to thirteen years for trafficking and abuse. Still, rather than addressing the broad issue of human trafficking, the Chinese government focused on covering it up, fearing it undermined the positive image Xi Jinping seeks to portray.<\/p>\n<p>State media were ordered to suppress coverage, and censors quickly removed online references to her plight. Local police even detained two women who tried to visit her, underscoring the authorities\u2019 commitment to silence. One of the citizen journalists who investigated the story on his own felt so threatened by repeated visits from the authorities that he eventually sought political asylum in the U.S. Foreign journalists such as Feng who tried to report the story were followed and harassed by public security personnel. Even today, who the \u201cchained woman\u201d is and what her real story is remain a mystery.<\/p>\n<p>The book\u2019s title comes from a Hui Muslim man named Yusuf. He wryly referenced Mao Zedong\u2019s short-lived 1956 \u201cLet a hundred flowers bloom\u201d campaign, in which the Party briefly invited criticism only to persecute those who spoke out. Mao later called it a ploy to \u201centice the snakes out of their caves.\u201d Xi, Yusuf observed, no longer bothers with the pretense. His relentless campaigns to enforce cultural and political conformity amount to a simpler decree: let only red flowers bloom.<\/p>\n<p>The English edition of Feng\u2019s book was published in March 2025 and garnered modest attention. Unlike more confrontational works such as Yang Jisheng\u2019s Tombstone, her critique of the party and its policies is nuanced and rooted in personal stories. This year, her book\u2019s Chinese-language edition was released in Taiwan, sparking significant interest from Beijing. The July 2026 raids on Hong Kong bookstores selling the title aimed to limit its reach, but they had the unintended consequence of driving demand, as the book quickly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/jul\/23\/taiwan-hong-kong-independent-bookstore-raids-china-censorship\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sold out<\/a> in Taiwan, leading the publisher to order an emergency reprint of ten thousand copies.<\/p>\n<p>By labeling a meticulously reported account of everyday Chinese lives as seditious, the authorities only reinforced Feng\u2019s main argument. Many individuals now see purchasing and reading this book as a subtle yet powerful act of resistance against a regime committed to enforcing conformity and silencing dissent.<\/p>\n<p>By treating a carefully reported account of ordinary Chinese lives as seditious, the authorities only confirmed Feng\u2019s central argument. The people she profiles refuse to fit the state\u2019s narrow definition of identity, and their stories continue to circulate despite efforts to silence them. For many ethnic Chinese everywhere, buying, reading this book, or even writing a book review, \u00a0has become more than an act of curiosity. Rather, it is a quiet, deliberate defiance to an authoritarian system determined to enforce conformity.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<div>\n<p>      Helen Raleigh, CFA, is an American entrepreneur, writer, and speaker. She&#8217;s a senior contributor at The Federalist. Her writings appear in other national media, including The Wall Street Journal and Fox News.  Helen is the author of several books, including &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Confucius-Never-Said-Helen-Raleigh\/dp\/1499185278\/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&#038;keywords=Helen+Raleigh+Confucius+Never+Said&#038;qid=1606079469&#038;sr=8-1\">Confucius Never Said<\/a>&#8221; and \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Backlash-How-Chinas-Aggression-Backfired\/dp\/1736008501\/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&#038;qid=1606006113&#038;sr=8-1\">Backlash: How Communist China&#8217;s Aggression Has Backfired<\/a>.&#8221; Her latest book is &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Not-Outsiders-Americans-political-activism\/dp\/1736008552\">Not Outsiders: Asian Americans\u2019 political activism from the 19th century to today<\/a>.\u201d Follow her on Twitter: @HRaleighspeaks.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hong Kong police raid bookstores, seize Feng\u2019s book on China<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":536,"featured_media":2651056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Copy-of-Copy-of-Copy-of-Copy-of-Copy-of-Copy-of-Book-Cover-Featured-Image-6.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[49564,6371,4501,32311],"class_list":["post-2651055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-book-banning","tag-censorship","tag-china","tag-free-speech"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Copy-of-Copy-of-Copy-of-Copy-of-Copy-of-Copy-of-Book-Cover-Featured-Image-6.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2651055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/536"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2651055"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2651055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2651065,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2651055\/revisions\/2651065"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2651056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2651055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2651055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2651055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}