(IPS) feature

A novel about the steamy romance between British poet Julian Bell and his mysterious Chinese mistress promises to create a precedent in the history of artistic expression in China not the least because of the number of pirated versions it has generated even before being published here.

While many erotic books have been banned overnight in this country, where merits of literary works are often determined by the austere paladins of socialist taste at the Communist Party's Propaganda Department, none has yet been bestowed with the honour of having its fate decided in court.

But the novel ' K ', by Britain-based writer Hong Ying, may just change all that. For its sexual explicitness, critics here have already dubbed 'K' the Chinese version of ' Lady Chatterley's Lover '.

What has captivated readers even further is the author's choice of main characters. - Julian Bell (1908- 1937) is the nephew of celebrated British novelist Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), while his beautiful lover Lin alludes to Chinese female writer Ling Shuhua (1900-1990).

Indeed, Ling's daughter, Chen Xiaoying, alleges that ' K ' involves her deceased parents and has ''unbearably pornographic descriptions'' of the affair between her mother and Bell. She believes the story slanders her parents' name and has therefore caused spiritual damage to herself.

First published in Taiwan in 1999, 'K' soon had Swedish and Dutch editions. French and English versions are also due to come out later this year. In mainland China, though, only selected parts of the novel have been serialised so far in the magazine ' Writer ' and in the ' Sichuan Youth Daily '.

' K ' tells the story of young Julian Bell who arrives to China in early 1930s to teach English in the University of Wuhan. There he befriends Cheng Yuan, a dean of the literature department and his wife, Lin, who is also a teacher at the university.

Julian and Lin's intimacy flourishes into a romance that is described in graphic details, reminiscent of Ming Dynasty's erotic classic ' Jinpingmei '.

Exotic settings

The exotic settings of 1930s China such as opium dens hidden in traditional courtyard houses or the hot springs at Beijing's Fragrant Hills provide stunning background for lovers' encounters, often discreetly guided by Lin as to unveil spiritual secrets of Taoism to Julian.

Writer Hong has insisted that her work is fiction and that the real names of the Chinese characters were not used. But descendants of the deceased literary couple Chen Xiying and Ling Shuhua charge that ' K ' tarnishes their family reputation.

Earlier this year, in fact, Chen Xiaoying filed a lawsuit with a Beijing court, demanding that the ' Writer ' and the ' Sichuan Youth Daily ', together with the author, pay her US$24,000 in compensation.

She also demands that the novel be banned from publishing in mainland China for 100 years, or the life-span of three generation of her family.

The case of Chen vs Hong remains pending in court, but it has generated heated polemic reaching far beyond the question of spiritual damage caused to living and deceased individuals. Many believe that what is at stake is no less than the freedom of artistic creativity in China.

''All those years have been a golden age for Chinese literature,'' says Hong Ying, ''but if the court decides to ban ' K ' from being published in China, this would be a huge step backward for modern Chinese writing.''

''It would mean its return to a chaotic, conservative and totalitarian state,'' she adds. ''Hundreds such cases would follow, writers would be afraid to write novels with historical background and publishing houses would be unwilling to publish.''

Still, since both Chen and Hong are Chinese-British and ' K ' has never been published on the Chinese mainland as an entire novel, many were perplexed why Chen chose to file the lawsuit in Beijing.

Fu Guangming, a research fellow at the Chinese Modern Literature Museum who is acting as an agent for Chen Xiaoying, explains though that neither British nor Taiwanese laws have regulations concerning the interests of the deceased.

Spiritual damage

In contrast, the latest judicial explanations about reputation and spiritual damage effected by the Supreme People's Court of China this year have explicit stipulation that the reputation of the deceased and their blood relatives within three generations be protected.

''While there was a true love story between Julian Bell and Ling Shuhua, the novel ' K ' takes liberty into describing the affair with a lot of obscene and pornographic details,'' says Fu.

''The portrayal of Ling as a loose woman and Chen as an impotent husband has caused a great spiritual damage to their daughter Chen Xiaoying,'' he says.

But author Hong disagrees. ''Far from being loose,'' she says, ''Lin is a very brave woman who dared pursue true love. Despite her traditional upbringing and way of life, Lin was an exceptional individual and this is revealed in the book.''

To Hong, the story of ' K ' is about triumph of sexual pleasure and its artistic relevance as an expression of early feminist attitude.

''I wrote this book thinking about love, Chinese culture and the encounter between China and the West,'' she says.

Hong says, ''Some say that ' K '- the way Julian referred to his Chinese mistress in his letters - means Lin was his eleventh lover. But I think ' K ' stands for Cathay, the ancient name of China in the West.''