In China, on January 5, 2019, a law came into force, according to which the possession, reading and distribution of books by Alexander Solzhenitsyn is considered a criminal offense.
In accordance with the law "On the inadmissibility of desecrating the bright people's memory of the times of the Great Helmsman Mao Zedong and his teacher Joseph Stalin," any literature that criticizes the Soviet period of the leadership of these leaders is banned.
“The one who pours mud on Stalin, he pours mud on the Soviet people. Whoever pours mud on his disciple Mao is pouring mud on the Chinese people. We will not allow ourselves to be insulted, nor the memory of the Soviet people devoted to their elite about the bright Stalinist period. That is why Solzhenitsyn's books in China now have a place on bonfires, and not on the shelves of libraries,”said President Xi Jinping, signing the law.
The document separately states that given the "exceptional importance of the law for national memory and justice", it will be retroactive. This means that even those who got rid of Solzhenitsyn's books even earlier will not be able to avoid strict socialist responsibility post facto if it has been established that they have stored, read or distributed his books. According to the authors of the bill, this will teach "a tough, but necessary lesson on how to deal with traitors and their followers."
A separate clause toughens the responsibility for teachers and educators, increasing their terms for spreading Solzhenitsyn among the younger generation almost doubled.
