Celebrity writer Han Han, widely seen as a hero by the younger generation, has become more deeply embroiled in ghostwriting allegations following claims by a well-known anti-fraud campaigner.
Millions of netizens have watched online as Han's credibility crisis appears to be escalating, after Fang Zhouzi, who once forced former Microsoft CEO Kaifu Lee to admit exaggerating his academic achievements in his previously published books, continued to target Han.
Fang said he has gathered more evidence to prove that Han Han's earlier works were not his own and welcomes any legal response to the allegations.
"I'm sure the early works of Han Han such as Triple Door and Seeing a Doctor were written by a ghostwriter, judging by the style and depth of the content. Whoever wrote for Han Han is another matter. I can only say there is more suspicion that his father is the ghostwriter," Fang told the Global Times yesterday.
The saga began when IT expert Mai Tian claimed early this month that Han's blog articles were not his own.
Han offered a cash reward of 20 million yuan ($3.2 million) to anyone who could prove that he had received help writing articles.
While Mai later apologized, saying his allegations were wrong, Fang launched a new round of questioning.
Fang's suspicions have drawn some people to his cause, but others, especially Han's millions of fans, have attacked Fang for "blind barking."
Calls and text messages to Han Han and Lu Jinbo, the publisher of Han's books, went unanswered yesterday.
In an earlier response, Han posted an article on Friday by his father, Han Renjun, on his blog. Han said his father intended to clarify the matter by writing the article, but he felt "very depressed" about the whole incident.
Zhang Hongbo, deputy director general of the China Written Works Copyright Society, told the Global Times that the saga is not necessarily a bad thing.
"The dispute allows us to question the credibility of any celebrity who used to be our hero since we always encourage original work," he said.