International Scholar Verified the Plagiarism in Gold Mountain Blues

Canadian Authors of Original Works Will Pursue the Issue

Prof. Wang Ning, Director of the Academic Committee of the Department of Foreign Languages, Tsinghua University, Member of the Academy of Latinity, and Vice-President, the Association of Comparative Literature of China, has been entrusted as the third party scholar by related parties including authors of the original works to conduct a research on the accusation of  the suspected plagiarism in Ms. Zhang Ling’s award winning Chinese novel, Gold Mountain Blues. After three months’ comparative studies and researches, Prof. Wang Ning submitted three review reports recently. 

His reports clearly state that many passages and contents from Gold Mountain Blues are highly similar or identical to the English novels, Concubine’s Children, Disappearing Moon Café, Ghost Train, The Bone Collector’s Son, The Dead Man’s Gold, etc.,  from detailed descriptions, plots, to structures, character development, and story lines, which are original creations by the English authors and are protected intellectual properties, and  not “common resources” as argued by Zhang Ling.  The reports have verified the accusation of Gold Mountain Blues’ plagiarism from many English novels. Some researchers and scholars hold the opinion that, with these authentic reports made by a third party scholar, the long lasting debates over the plagiarism issue can now draw a conclusion.

Gold Mountain Blues is a story depicting the life and struggles of the earlier Chinese who came to Canada to build the railway and to make a living. After its publication in China in 2009, it has been awarded many prizes and sold its movie and TV rights.  It has also sold many foreign language rights including its English rights to Penguin Canada. Very soon, however, accusations about its plagiarism and evidences to prove the accusations started to appear on Chinese media and the internet.

The accusers have pointed out that Gold Mountain Blues has taken advantage of the situation that those Canadian born Chinese writers do not understand the Chinese language and that their English works have not been translated into Chinese, while Gold Mountain Blues was written in Chinese for readers who do not understand English.  Such behavior could easily escape being caught.  This kind of plagiarism, after translations between the languages, has taken a fairly advanced skill, as it is not simply a word for word and line after line copying.  The Chinese-Canadian writers were not even aware of the fact that their successful works have been reassembled and reproduced in China by someone in exchange for money and fame.

By international standard, plagiarism is stealing, which violates intellectual property and is an illegal activity under severe punishment. In China, however, such concept has not been accepted widely.

With the publication of the review reports by the third party scholar,  authors of the original English works are deeply concerned and worried.  Sky Lee and Paul Yee have clearly expressed to the Chinese media their attitude to protect their rights and voiced criticisms to plagiarism.

“By all standards, plagiarism is an act of theft. If charges of plagiarism by Zhang Ling from my work are proved, I would consider it a serious violation of my intellectual property rights. The committees that gave awards to Zhang Ling’s works in question should reconsider their decisions in light of reports from third-party scholars on the issue of plagiarism.” Chinese Canadian author Paul Yee told the reporter of Literature Press.

When receiving interviews, Sky Lee, the Chinese Canadian author whose novel Disappearing Moon Café has been plagiarized by Gold Mountain Blues, made the following statement:

“ I think that plagiarism is a vulgar situation of blatant dishonesty. Of course I’m both distressed and concerned, not only for myself as a writer who may have had her work stolen. But I must also wonder about the individual who would be so short sighted as to cheat both the self as a creator as well as all of the readers who only seek to be guided and inspired in their own search for a vision of truth.   I know that readers all over the world are devoted to the literary word because therein lies the stuff of universal freedom for the human soul. ”  

“I feel the same as the vast majority of reasonable folk everywhere: What a huge mess on our collective hands because we have allowed dishonesty to clearly profit! It certainly seems as if the entire planet has been overwhelmed by such anti-social behavior.  ”

“The legal system in China is clearly reinventing itself. Does it stand for social justice? Can it protect the Chinese people from wide spread corruption? How will it protect intellectual property? Will it ultimately do what it claims to do? Do lawyers really work for free in China? ”

According to a report in Toronto Star on Feb. 1, Penguin Canada is pending its publication of the English version Gold Mountain Blues until the alleged plagiarism is cleared.  Now that with the plagiarism verified, readers may wonder what might happen with the Chinese organizations which issued awards to Gold Mountain Blues, and what might be done by publishers who have purchased the book’s foreign language rights.  Further reports will follow.