Description of Incident: Feng was a celebrated Chinese poet until he ran awry of the Communist Party during the 1950s. He was a spokesman for the party, upholding the view that literature and human emotion should remain separate. In 1952 he became the chief editor of "Wenyibao" (Literary and Art Gazette). With his new position he believed he could advocate his true views. He criticized the party for the "lowering of literary and professional standards" by strict political control. He was charged with revolting against Marxism, disobeying the party's orders, treating "Wenyibao" as his own property and surrendering to bourgeois ideas.

Results of Incident: Feng pleaded guilty to all of the charges and promised to reform, however, he was demoted. During Mao Zedong's "Hundred Flowers" policy in 1956, literary control mitigated slightly and Feng began to speak out again. During the Anti-Rightist Campaign in 1957 he was accused of opposing the party and sent for reform through labor. He spent the last years of his life performing manual labor during the Cultural Revolution.

Description of Incident: While many lauded "La Dolce Vita," members of the Catholic Church attacked it. The film was given an E rating by the Centro Cattolico Cinematografico, a rating system within the church. The E rating compares watching the film with sin. Priests and church members were forbidden to watch or speak about the film. Members of the church also brought the debate to the Italian Parliament. The film was banned in the Soviet Union.

Results of Incident: The Parliament decided not to censor the film, however, they did discuss creating a system to protect the Italian people from "arousing disgust by scenes of a raw and ruthless realism." The film was celebrated by audiences and at numerous film festivals world wide.

Description of Incident: Fei was politically active in the Chinese Democratic League and remained in China after the Communist Party took power. He worked for the Central Institute of Nationalities, contributing to academic studies. In 1950 he was accused of "acting like a VIP." In 1956 he was ordered to criticize policies favoring academic life. On the contrary, he published several articles criticizing the government for abolishing sociology as an academic discipline and called on other academics to be more outspoken. His work was attacked for its "imperialist" inspiration and he was accused of elitism and class arrogance.

Results of Incident: Fei was forced to spend two and a half years in "re-education." Afterward he was allowed to return to the Central Institute of Nationalities.

Description of Incident: Fassbinder's play was blocked from performing four times. In 1975 Frankfurt municipal authorities said they would not risk a scandal because of his play, fearing antagonism between German and Jewish communities. The first printing of the play was in the newspaper "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung." Critics blasted the play for its alleged anti-Semitism. The publisher, Suhrkamp Press, withdrew all copies of the play and announced that it would not be reprinted until Fassbinder changed the name of "The Rich Jew." In 1984, two years after Fassbinder's death, the manager of the Old Opera in Frankfurt attempted to stage "The Garbage..." but was blocked by city administrator who claimed that the play wasn't suitable for the theater. "The Garbage..." was performed in 1985 but only for one night. On opening night members of the Jewish community took over the stage and stopped the performance. A few days later a private performance was held for representatives of the Jewish community and theater critics. After sharp criticism, the producer cancelled all scheduled performances. The Maxim Gorki Theater made the last attempt to stage "The Garbage..." in 1998. Jewish groups and prominent cultural figures in Berlin prostested, suggesting that it would damage relations between Germans and Jews, and the play was removed from the program.

Results of Incident: "The Garbage..." was never performed in Germany. It has, however, been performed by the Yoram Loewenberg acting school in Israel.

Description of Incident: Farah challenged the patriarchal tradition in Somalia through his novel "From a Crooked Rib." The novel was serialized in the government newspaper "Xiddigata Oktoobar" until, in 1973, the paper discontinued the series. After Farah's second novel, "A Naked Needle," which was critical of Siad Barre's government, he went into a self-imposed exile in Britain.

Results of Incident: None of Farah's novels were published in Somalia. He has taught at Universities around the world and is an internationally known writer.

Description of Incident: The orthodox Muslim teacher Nuruddin ar-Raniri ruled the court of Aceh in the mid-17th century. Nuruddin declared all theological works that opposed his own to be heretical. Hamzah Fansuri's writings, in addition to those of his students, were banned and burned.

Results of Incident: Hamzah Fansuri's ideas advanced among a small group of students. His beliefs are still debated and banned by orthodox Muslims in parts of Asia.

Description of Incident: Fang was denunciated by the Anti-Rightist Campaign in 1957. He was expelled from the Communist Party and sent to Hebei province for labor reform. Fang returned to teach at the University of Science and Technology, but was not permitted to do research. He was arrested by the Red Guard and detained for three years beginning in 1966, then sent to work in the coal mines of Anhui province.

Results of Incident: Fang was able to return to the University of Science and Technology and re-initiated into the Communist Party during the 1970s. He continued to pressure the government for academic freedom. Fang and his wife fled China to study in Britain and the United States after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.

Description of Incident: Byron's friends and associates advised him not to publish the first two cantos (divisions of a long poem) of "Don Juan" because of their indecency and their similarity to a scandal that Byron had recently been involved in. He had been engaged to a woman named Annabella Milbanke, though had numerous love affairs, one of which was with his half-sister. This affair was well known throughout England.

Results of Incident: Byron chose to publish the first two cantos annonymously. The later cantos were published under his own name. He then vowed never to consult those who advised him ever again.

Description of Incident: "Naked Lunch" fought censorship based on its alleged obscene content from 1959, when it was written, until 1966. The book was first challenged by the U.S. Post Office who argued that the novel and exerpts from the novel were prohibited from mailing because of their obscene content. The post office lost the decision in an appeal to the Illinois Federal District Court. In 1959 a French publisher, Olympia Press, purchased the rights to "Naked Lunch." When Olympia attempted to send copies into the United States in 1959, the books were intercepted and confiscated by U.S. Customs. Customs claimed jurisdiction under the 1930 Tariff Act to prevent the import of "any obscene book pamphlet, paper, writing, advertisement, circular...or other article which is obscene of immoral." In 1961 the customs bureau decided that "Naked Lunch" was contraband material.

Results of Incident: In November 1961 the U.S. District Attorney decided that custom's siezure of the book was "neither appropriate or desirable." In 1966 the Massachusetts Supreme Court cleared "Naked Lunch" of obscenity charges.

Description of Incident: "An Andalusian Dog" was removed from French theaters in 1929 even though it was well recieved. The owners of the Cinema des Ursulines told Bunuel that they feared the French censor's reaction. "The Golden Age" was protested by right-wing Jewish and Christian organizations in December 1930. Police asked the managers of Studio 28 to remove two parts of the film, and the film was allowed to continue showing. Later that month police confiscated all copies of "The Golden Age." A film that he made in Mexico 1950 depicting working-class brutality was met with hostility from Mexicans and banned after four days.

Results of Incident: Bunuel was sent to the Spanish embassy in Paris to produce propaganda films. During World War II he worked for the Museum of Modern Art in New York, dubbing anti-Nazi films for distribution in Latin America.

Description of Incident: All of Bulgakov's plays were banned in Russia except "Days of the Turbins," which suffered many alterations dictated by Stalin's censors. Many critics accused the play of showing the nobility of the defeated army. Another of his plays, "Flight," was also denounced for "misplaced sympathies."

Results of Incident: "Days of the..." was restored after Bulgakov's death. Stalin supposedly viewed it 15 times.

Description of Incident: Two of Buchner's associates at the Courier were arrested for transporting copies of the periodical. He knew his arrest would promptly follow so he quickly wrote "Storm and Stress." His publisher agreed to print it only if he made cuts. Dialogue such as :

Soldier: Oh Christina, my Christina, when we play the concertina does it leave you sore, sore, sore.

Buchner left to Strasbourg after he recieved a warrant for arrest.

Results of Incident: Buchner studied biology and continued writing plays after leaving Hesse. He was awarded a doctorate and lectureship in natural history from the University of Zurich.

Description of Incident: Buber taught at the University of Frankfurt and was well-respected around the world for his academic achievements. When the Nazis came to power in Germany he lost his position in Frankfurt and was forbidden to write, publish and teach. His books were removed from German libraries and destroyed.

Results of Incident: Buber left Germany for Palestine and continued teaching at Jewish institutions. He was awarded the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade by the post-war Federal Republic of Germany. His work has been recognized by numerous academic institutions.

Description of Incident: Buarque claimed that "In Spite of You" was about an unhappy love affair, but the censors viewed it as an attack on the government. Many of Buarque's songs were banned thereafter, until a point when anything he wrote, regardless of content, fell victim to censorship. For a time Buarque recorded songs under various pseudonyms, however, the government changed the law so that all music produced needed positive identification from the author. In 1974 Buarque was given authorization to produce a play but the permission was reneged several weeks before the play's premier.

Results of Incident: Buarque was able to release an album in 1978 that included a few of his banned songs. He became involved in a committee to reform censorship in 1980.

Description of Incident: Brodsky's first taste of censorship came in 1959 when the publisher of a poetry collection that included his poems was arrested. Brodsky was accused of debauchery, pessimism, social parasitism and anti-Soviet activities. He was sent to prison on the parasitism charge; the Soviet court decided that since he was a poet, he didn't really have a job. He left Russia in 1972 and was welcomed by western intellectuals. Brodsky travelled the world and continued to write. In 1972-1973 a four-volume collection of his work was published. The compilers were immediately arrested but the collection circulated surrepticiously.

Results of Incident: After glasnost and perestroika Brodsky's work began to flood into the Soviet Union. Now he is one of Russia's most celebrated writers.