Hong Kong - A coterie of amateur poets has been detained by police in south-western China, a Hong Kong-based dissident group said yesterday. The reported crackdown follows a flurry of activity in recent weeks by China's fragmented and previously dormant dissident movement.
The detained writers were planning to launch an independent journal to promote a renaissance of a literary scene stunted by censorship and coarsened by the raw consumerism of China's capitalist-style markets.
Authorities made no comment on the reported detentions in Guizhou province, one of China's poorest regions but known for its relatively bold publishing industry.
