Danmei

It combines two restricted subjects, pornography and homosexuality, and depictions of homosexuality have been subject to censorship since 2007.

Danmei is a frequent target of legal action because it touches two subjects the state restricts at once, pornography and homosexuality. Pornography is illegal in China, and danmei with sex scenes judged particularly explicit can be classed as obscenity. Homosexuality itself was decriminalized in 1997, but since 2007 China's National Radio and Television Administration has deemed depictions of homosexuality subject to censorship. Vague legal definitions of obscenity add to the risk, and anti-porn crackdowns in 2004, 2010 and 2014 closed many danmei websites and forums. In 2018 an author writing as Tianyi was sentenced to 10 years in prison after her self-published novel sold over 7,000 copies.