March 30, 1992 EDITION: HONG KONG

Secrets of a Hot Novel China's mystery writer stays
anonymous but reveals himself as an apprehensive
environmentalist

By: Jaime A. FlorCruz/Beijing

What would apocalypse look like from the perspective of
China? Maybe like this: street protests erupt in Beijing
after Deng Xiaoping's demise. A military coup ends a bitter
power struggle in the capital but leads to secession of the
free-market-minded southern provinces. The People's
Liberation Army attacks the south; Taiwan intervenes.
Beijing fires nuclear missiles at Taiwan; a United Nations
armed with atomic weapons retaliates. The conflict expands
into global nuclear holocaust and is followed by nuclear
winter. Yet, somehow, China survives, in part owing to the
flexibility of its new representative, elected government
and to a special strain of staple food.

That is the scenario outlined in Yellow Peril, a
science-fiction novel written in the People's Republic that
won wide readership and critical acclaim   in Taiwan and
Hong Kong late last year. Although banned in China,
photocopies and computer disks of the 1,100-page book are
still making the rounds among Chinese intellectuals. The
novel is unusual in its length and form -- apocalyptic
thrillers are not a mainstay on China's bookshelves -- but
it has become even more of a cause celebre because of the
anonymity of its author, who is known only by his pen name,
Bao Mi (Keep Secret).

Freed by his furtiveness to make their own guesses for
their own reasons, Chinese exiles in the West claimed that
the writer was a survivor of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre;
they saw Yellow Peril as a condemnation of communism and a
plea for democracy. Rumors about his fate abounded. One
report said he was arrested in Beijing last December.

Bao Mi is not under detention -- and by his own firm
assertion is no dissident either. In an interview with
TIME, he declined to give his identity but revealed himself
to be a sharp-witted man in his late 30s. A professional
writer of modest repute, Bao insists he was a mere
''fence-sitter'' at the time of Tiananmen, although he
sympathized with the pro-democracy protesters.

Yellow Peril, he explains, is a philosophical tract against
consumerism, not an attack on the communist regime. In his
novel, competition over natural resources triggers both the
violent southern separatist movement and the international
frictions that result in nuclear war. ''The world's
resources are limited, but people's greed for them is
limitless,'' Bao says. ''This will lead to global
destruction unless greedy consumerism is curbed.''
Totalitarianism will not diminish that greed, nor will
democracy. ''In China as it is, Western-style democracy
will not necessarily be better than the Communist Party
dictatorship,'' he contends. ''It could even be worse.'' He
advocates a third road, consisting of ''a step-by-step
selection of leaders'' through genuine grass-roots
elections.

Though the author is no political activist, he is
passionate about environmentalism. A peripatetic adventurer
who has climbed the Himalayas and navigated the Yellow
River on a wooden raft, Bao supports Greenpeace because
''I've seen enough environmental destruction.'' He intended
his novel as a plea against more destruction. Why then the
anonymity? In a still chilly political climate, Bao remains
somewhat apprehensive. ''I broke no laws, and I'd prefer to
be aboveboard,'' he says. But the banning of his book does 
 nothing to lessen his insecurity. Until his fears are
fully assuaged, he prefers to remain part of an intriguing
-- and best-selling -- secret.


Photo(s):

FORREST ANDERSON FOR TIME Author Bao Mi, still anonymous:
his science-fiction novel Yellow Peril, above,
philosophically attacks the unchecked greed of consumerism
Color: Bao Mi with face disguised electronically.

NO CREDIT See above. Color reproduction: Cover of book
Yellow Peril.