This week, twelve books were removed from the censored books list in Shanghai schools. This was a hard-fought victory for 17-years old boy Zhuangyan Shi whom, since last year, began campaigning for the reintroduction of banned books under an educational setting.

Zhuangyan Shi is a student at Shanghai Starriver Bilingual School and a receiver of the prestigious Soong-Ching Ling scholarship in 2019—the scholarship selects 1000 to 1500 students annually from a pool of 26 million Chinese students, in recognition for their social impact and leadership. Since the year 2016, Zhuangyan had started advocating for student rights in and out of classroom as part of his role at Shanghai’s city-wide youth council. The reintroduction of banned books campaign is one of his most notable feats.

Early in 2020, school districts around Shanghai removed a list of “sensitive or pre-mature” books in libraries of primary and secondary schools. Dream of a Red Mansion, for instance, was removed from the curriculum due to concerns that it contained innuendos. Lu Yao’s World of Plainness, on the other hand, was removed in primary school libraries as it depicted scenes involving explicit violence and the brutalities of life.

This was a response to hundreds of parents who raised concerns on alleged potential harm and pre-mature exposure to explicit content for the city’s roughly 132,220 students. All but three of the books on the list have been required reading in the municipal curriculum.

Zhuangyan Shi, however, was not happy with the ban. In an address made to his peers at the city-wide youth council, Zhuangyan said, “Kids and teenagers have to grow up, sooner or later. The question is not when they gain access to those literatures; the question is how.” Indeed, survey results correspond to Zhuangyan’s opinion. In a paper poll conducted in 53 public schools across six districts, gathering over fourteen thousand surveys, Zhuangyan and his team found that more than 84% of students were unhappy with the ban.

The most common reason students presented for disagreeing with the book ban was that the classics were “part of their cultural identity” and that removing it would indicate a lack of cultural confidence. For instance, one student argued that “The World of Plainness” captured the success of the economic reform (also known as the Opening-Up), and that removing it would not allow students to recognize its successes.

“After all, what was there to be ashamed of?” Zhuangyan told China Daily, “Even innuendos could be properly explained if teachers are trained to do it professionally. We cannot throw children into a vacuum where they are uninformed about these things forever. When we identify violence in literature, we can instruct students against using violence. Banning these books under the name of ‘protection’ is worse when, in reality, it leads to the lack of maturity and cultural confidence.”

With these statistics, Zhuangyan then proposed a plan to the city government to overturn the book ban. Specifically, Zhuangyan addressed the problem of “how” to teach in his proposal. What could be done, he argued, is to set up sensitive books corner in school libraries and require librarians to explain the content and significance of those books, serving as monitored guidance for students along their readings. Moreover, teachers would be trained to educate students on the right approach to reading sensitive content. For instance, while teaching close reading sessions on “Dream of a Red Mansion,” teachers would explain biological knowledge in scientific terms to preset a holistic education when encountering innuendos.

The plan was a great success. The municipal government recalled all books from the censorship list with the exception of one controversial novel series (“Charlie ninth”). The book in question is currently at step four of the council’s process. The review committee has until Dec. 13 to make a recommendation to the superintendent, who will make a decision that can then be appealed to the board of education. Its last meeting was Nov. 25, but no consensus was reached.

Zhuangyan Shi’s advocacies illustrate what the future generation is capable of—they’re willing to fight for their rights and they are empowered through the nation’s long-lasting culture.

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