OPINION> Commentary
Bodyguards unnecessary
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-10-20 07:38

It's meaningless to hire bodyguards for popular authors like Yu Dan when they meet fans fact to face, says an article on the website of Jiangxi News Online. The following is an excerpt:

On October 12, Guo Jingming signed and sold copies of his latest book titled Xiao Shi Dai (which literally means Petty Times) at a bookstore in Baoding, Hebei province, attracting thousands of teenager fans who put the situation at the store out of control for several times. At last, the police dispersed the crowds on the spot, halting the book-selling activity.

The glass doors of the bookstore were smashed. Guo had two bodyguards with him at that time.

It has not been unusual in recent times to see bodyguards hired for singers and authors at new book launches. Yu Dan, a popular writer giving lectures on TV, was protected by two bodyguards when she was signing her new book for her fans on October 10 at Beijing's Ditan Park. The two guards used their own bodies to fend off her fans, demanding them not to get too close.

The hiring of bodyguards on the book- signing and selling occasions started after Yan Chongnian, a popular TV historian, was slapped on the cheek by a young man who disagreed with Yan's views about the history of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912) at his book launch on October 5 in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. After the unexpected slap, Yan bravely continued to sign and sell his books, but the organizers hired bodyguards for him to prevent similar cases from happening. Meanwhile, fans were required not to get too close with Yan.

It's understandable for Yan to have bodyguards since many people differ with his views on the Qing Dynasty. But for Yu Dan and Guo Jingming, it seems unnecessary to hire guards. The fans of Guo are mostly teenage students who love and strongly support him despite allegations of plagiarism against him. Yu Dan is much safer as she only talks on TV about how to find psychological balance in modern life out of the inspirations from ancient Chinese books like Analects of Confucius and Zhuangzi. Although some believe that Yu distorts Analects of Confucius and more than 10 doctoral candidates in renowned universities in China like Peking University and Tsinghua University have called for a boycott of her TV talk shows, the scope of the disputes is mainly intellectual .

As long as an author is not a controversial person like Yan Chongnian, it's pointless to hire bodyguards for them.

(China Daily 10/20/2008 page4)