Chinese Nobel-winning author targeted in patriotic lawsuit

By SIMINA MISTREANU
Associated Press

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — His writing won China’s first Nobel Prize for Literature, but is it patriotic enough for Xi Jinping’s China? That’s the question at the center of a high-profile lawsuit that has driven a debate about nationalism in China in recent weeks. Patriotic blogger Wu Wanzheng filed suit against novelist Mo Yan last month,  under a 2018 law that made insulting heroes and martyrs a crime punishable by up to three years in prison. The suit is unlikely to succeed, but observers have called it a reflection of a rise in aggressive online efforts to enforce patriotism.