Han Han, who had previously engaged in online spats with Bai Ye, Shen Haobo, Lu Chuan, Zheng Jun, Liu Qian and others, ultimately decided to take things from the internet into reality after encountering Fang Zhouzi, an experienced debater, during the Spring Festival of the Year of the Dragon. Han Han issued a statement saying that he would sue Fang Zhouzi in Shanghai for 100,000 yuan in damages to his reputation. Fang Zhouzi said he would actively defend himself. However, legal experts stated that this case was in the gray area between being actionable and not, and Han Han's chances of winning against Fang Zhouzi were not very high.
Latest Developments
Han Han: Claims 100,000 Yuan
Yesterday, Han Han's partner and publisher Lu Jinbo publicly claimed that between January 19th and January 28th, Fang Zhouzi continuously posted articles on Weibo such as "The Liar Han Han", "The Literary and Historical Level of the Genius Han Han", "Han Han's Reward Farce" and forwarded and commented on several other people's articles, clearly pointing out that Han Han's works were "ghostwritten" and "packaged by water armies", causing a significant impact on the internet.
Lu Jinbo said that in order to prove that his works were personally created by him, Han Han independently organized drafts, correspondences, material books, and other materials from 1997 to 2000, totaling about 1000 pages. These materials will undergo notarization and judicial authentication of their authenticity, including paper age authentication and handwriting authentication of Han Han. Han Han believed that these materials were sufficient to prove that works such as "Seeking Medical Treatment", "Bookstore", "Peering at People in the Cup", and "Three Gates" were all independently created by him. Han Han also provided evidence proving that there was no ghostwriting or cheating in his writing process and participation in the New Concept Essay Competition.
Lu Jinbo said that given that Fang Zhouzi repeatedly distorted facts and misled reasoning during the questioning process, leading to conclusions completely opposite to the real situation, and widely disseminated them, constituting serious infringement on Han Han's right to reputation and property rights, Han Han would file a lawsuit with the court, demanding that Fang Zhouzi publicly correct and apologize, and compensate for economic losses of 100,000 yuan.
Han Han also published a new blog post yesterday titled "Everything I Have Written Can Become Court Evidence," where he answered eight questions one by one, including why he didn't directly sue the other party, whether early articles were written by his father, why he didn't accept TV interviews, and why he wrote paper as cloth during the New Concept Essay Competition.
Fang Zhouzi: Not Taking It Seriously
After Han Han's side indicated that they would take legal action against Fang Zhouzi, Fang Zhouzi said he wouldn't take the lawsuit seriously and would let his lawyer handle it.
Fang Zhouzi believed that he did not infringe upon Han Han's right to reputation and would continue to analyze articles signed by Han Han. Fang Zhouzi simultaneously published a blog post commenting on Han Han and his father's responses and continued to question inconsistencies in Han Han's articles and statements, insisting that early works like "Bookstore" and "Seeking Medical Treatment" were definitely not written by Han Han himself, suspecting that they were ghostwritten.
In addition, Mai Tian, who had already apologized, questioned the decision to sue him since he had apologized and Han Han had accepted the apology, now deciding to sue, suggesting it was a publicity stunt. Mai Tian expressed that if the court accepts the case, he would actively defend himself and counter-sue, refusing to settle! Mai Tian also said that he would re-question Han Han.
Expert Analysis: Encountering a Skilled Debunker, Han Han Loses His Edge
Regarding the possibility of being sued in court, Fang Zhouzi believed that his analysis, questioning, and criticism of articles signed by Han Han fell under freedom of speech and academic criticism, while attacks by Han Han and his team涉嫌infringed upon his right to reputation. He said: "Regardless of whether the court's judgment is favorable or unfavorable to me, I don't think it will affect whether my analytical conclusions are valid. The litigation will have no impact on my continued analysis of articles signed by Han Han."
"Fang Zhouzi himself is a skilled debunker, and when pitted against such a seasoned opponent, Han Han, who was previously adept at debating with figures like Lu Chuan, has lost his edge and is now caught off guard," analyzed Zhao Sanping, director of Beijing Guangheng Law Firm. Fang Zhouzi has significant social influence, many 'Fang fans', and substantial discourse power through Weibo and blogs. His questioning of Han Han has more influence than previous critics. Moreover, Fang Zhouzi is quite astute; for instance, he doesn't directly write 'Han Han could not have written such an article at 17,' instead forwarding others' comments to his Weibo and then commenting, using his influence to amplify the effect.
What impact will Han Han's lawsuit have on Fang Zhouzi? Lawyer Zhao Sanping believes it will be minimal. First, Fang Zhouzi has responded that paying 100,000 yuan would have little effect on him; secondly, Xiao Chuanguo once sued Fang Zhouzi in Wuhan, resulting in Fang Zhouzi's defeat, with the court deducting several ten thousand yuan from his account, but it did not prevent him from continuing to question Xiao Chuanguo.
Han Han's Offer Valid, Fang Zhouzi's Infringement Undetermined
On January 16th, Han Han wrote on his blog: "If anyone can prove that they ghostwrote articles for me, even just one line, or any media outlet has ever received news releases from the 'Han Han Team' or myself requiring publication for promotion, I will reward 20 million RMB."
Upon learning that he would be sued by Han Han, Fang Zhouzi humorously remarked that originally, Han Han offered a bounty to gather evidence of ghostwriting, so he wrote articles to find evidence, only to end up being sued by Han Han.
Lawyer Zhao Sanping analyzed that Han Han's public offer constituted a contractual invitation, with fulfillment content, obligations, and a bounty amount, making it a legitimate offer. Fang Zhouzi's subsequent questioning of Han Han aimed to uncover some doubts, attempting to make Han Han admit that someone indeed ghostwrote for him.
However, Lawyer Zhao Sanping believed that whether Fang Zhouzi infringed was in the gray area between actionable and non-actionable. In terms of wording, Fang Zhouzi did not use obvious insulting language and was relatively experienced, often forwarding others' Weibo posts.
From a literary criticism perspective, it is not necessary to have insulting language to constitute defamation of reputation. For a writer, questioning that his articles were not written by him but ghostwritten by someone else is itself the greatest insult to the writer. In the absence of evidence, such questioning has already exceeded the normal scope of literary criticism. Zhao Sanping stated that the lawsuit between Han Han and Fang Zhouzi serves as a warning to writers today who use computers for writing. Older writers can still use previous manuscripts as evidence, but how do new writers prove that the articles on the computer were written by themselves?
Today's reporter Yang Changping
Event Recap
January 15th: Famous blogger Mai Tian published a blog post titled "Artificial Han Han," claiming that Han Han was entirely "packaged" by his father and publisher.
January 16th: Han Han denied having any team or individual ghostwriting, offering a 20 million RMB reward to anyone providing evidence of ghostwriting, promising to stop writing if proven true.
January 18th: Fang Zhouzi took over the "debunking." On the same day, Mai Tian issued an apology letter. That evening, Fang Zhouzi responded to Mai Tian's apology, stating it was unrelated to him, and he would continue questioning.
January 19th: Han Han responded for the third time, accepting Mai Tian's apology. He also published "Artificial Fang Zhouzi," accusing Fang Zhouzi of five major offenses.
January 21st to 23rd: Fang Zhouzi published blog posts questioning Han Han's literary and historical level and the reading method of the book title "Three Gates."
January 25th: Han Han published a blog post displaying the manuscript of "Three Gates" and decided to publish it as a collection. On the same day, Fang Zhouzi published a blog post questioning Han Han's participation in the New Concept Essay Competition.
January 26th: Fang Zhouzi successively questioned whether "Three Gates" was ghostwritten by Han Han's father and published a blog analyzing Han Han's work "Seeking Medical Treatment."
January 27th to 28th: Han Han and his father continuously published articles introducing Han Han's father and his works.
January 29th: Regarding Lu Jinbo's statement that he would be sued by Han Han, Fang Zhouzi said he "welcomed the lawsuit."