Writer seeks legal means to overturn book ban

Banned mainland author Zhang Yihe yesterday applied to a Beijing court to overturn a central government press watchdog's ban on her book on Peking Opera stars.

Accompanied by leading lawyer Zhang Sizhi , Ms Zhang went to the Beijing No 2 Intermediate People's Court yesterday to file her application against the General Administration of Press and Publication's (GAPP) decision to ban the Hunan Art and Culture Publishing House from printing and distributing her book, Past Stories of Peking Opera Stars.

At a 'publication work briefing meeting' in Beijing on January 11 chaired by Central Propaganda Department deputy director Li Dongsheng, GAPP deputy director Wu Shulin criticised Ms Zhang's publisher for releasing one of her works.

Ms Zhang is the daughter of Zhang Bojun , one of the most prominent people to be stigmatised in the 1957 anti-rightist campaign.

The ban on Ms Zhang's book and other publications has aroused general unease among mainland intellectuals and GAPP has not offered an explanation for what she describes as a deprivation of her freedom of speech.

Ms Zhang and her lawyers maintained that even though the order was imposed on the publishing house, it had infringed her rights and caused her losses by making it impossible for the book to be reprinted.

The documents were handed over to Judge Gao Fuyong , who admitted it was not up to him to decide if the lawsuit would be accepted for a hearing.