IT WAS only a matter of time before Chinese authorities decided to shut down The Party, an achingly hip and archly outspoken magazine published by Han Han, a dashing racing car driver, sex symbol, novelist and the most popular blogger in the world.
Issue One of The Party, which has a less edgy title in Chinese – Solo Chorus– was China's trendiest ever magazine, selling 1.5 million copies. It was characterised by beautiful calligraphy on plain brown paper, with lengthy articles and mostly monochrome pictures or the kind of washed-out colour photographs favoured by style bibles like Monocleor Wallpaper.
It is not an overtly political magazine, but the subtext questions some of the mores of contemporary Chinese society. The photos in the magazine are the kind of images of China you see more of in Western arthouse magazines.
Han Han himself is not convinced the propaganda officials objected to the magazine, and believes he may have been the victim of a grudge within the Communist Party structure.
China’s censors keep a tight rein on the media, and it will quickly shut down any publications seen to be stepping on official toes, and Han Han’s subtle but questioning approach clearly has angered someone high up.
At the same time, the government is constrained in what it can do about Han Han. His website has registered hundreds of millions of hits, and he is so famous the government can arrest him at their peril. While Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo was pretty obscure until he was arrested, Han Han is a household name, and the government cannot afford to alienate Chinese youth.
This kind of iconography clearly irritated someone, although Han Han insists he doesn’t know who it was. Government officials appear to be behind the blocking of the magazine, although Han Han said in a blog posting he was unsure which department it was and why they had objected to the magazine.
Listed as one of the world's 50 most influential thinkers by the US Foreign Policymagazine, Han Han said in September he had been unable to find a publisher. Now he appears resigned to the end of the magazine. "Perhaps it's because there are too many relevant people in too many relevant departments," wrote Mr Han, using the kind of language that has earned him such a huge readership for his clever veiled criticisms of contemporary China.
“I myself don’t know exactly what has happened or what friend I may have insulted.” However, Han Han’s legions of supporters were insistent the magazine had just been put on hold.
"Han Han brought wine for the successful release of the second issue, but now it will be sealed up for a few years," wrote the managing editor of The Partywhen the news broke that the magazine has been blocked.
“He’ll be back,” wrote one supporter on the Chinese version of Twitter.