appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

liveArticle

appConfig

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sectionsV2

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

json

Masha Borak

This article originally appeared on ABACUS
Writers on China’s largest online publishing platforms stopped updating their stories on Tuesday in a protest against Tencent-owned China Literature. Writers referred to the one-day strike as “May-5-No-Updating-Day,” which was organized in opposition to contract clauses that writers claim diminish author rights.
The biggest complaint among those shared on social media is that China Literature’s contracts force authors to hand over copyrights to their work, local media reported. In a statement published Sunday, the company denied many of the authors’ claims, but it admitted that it “made mistakes and detours.” The China Literature Group recently went through a management reshuffle with CEO Wu Wenhui being replaced by Cheng Wu. The company also said that a meeting will be held with writers on Wednesday. Abacus reached out to the company for comment and will update if we receive a response.
China Literature is China's largest online publisher with several different platforms. It has previously expressed an ambition to become “China’s Marvel” by adapting the stories published to its sites. It has also been working on plans to expand outside the country with its English platform Webnovel. The company reportedly has 7.8 million writers, many of whom push out serialized web novels for online consumption. Some contracts even require writers to publish a certain number of words each month.



China’s chipmakers rush to embrace DeepSeek’s V4. Which names stand out?

Why Hong Kong’s tech index is failing to ride the Chinese AI stock boom

Kazakhstan’s AIFC discussing stock-trading links with Shanghai, Hong Kong

How China is using AI – and state funding – to transform the micro drama industry

Tencent Holdings

Writers protest China’s largest publishing company owned by Tencent

The China Literature writers’ strike drew a lot of attention on local microblogging platform Weibo. (Picture: Bloomberg)

Abacus

News Bites

Tech

China Literature owns China’s largest online reading platforms, but writers are complaining about losing rights


Writers protest China’s largest publishing company owned by Tencent

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}China Literature owns China’s largest online reading platforms, but writers are complaining about losing rights

China Literature owns China’s largest online reading platforms, but writers are complaining about losing rights