Shanghai's No. 1 Intermediate Court this month upheld an arbitration
committee's ruling that Han pay the publishing company a settlement of
US$51,850.
"These scraps don't constitute a text worth almost US$115,000," Hantu's
lawyer Huang Xiao was quoted as saying by the Shanghai newspaper Youth Daily,
referring to the total amount Han was due to receive for the book.
Han, whose lawyer filed an appeal Tuesday to overturn the Shanghai court's
decision, said his agreement with Hantu had specifically called for a
compilation of his blog writings filled out with additional commentaries and
drawings.
Han's blog comprises brief essays, diary entries, photos and
other snippets of information.
Such works deserved to be published because they had "never been put to
paper," Han was quoted as saying by the Youth Daily.
"However, the contract was extremely vague about the content and it's now
become a matter of them interpreting it however they like," Han said.
Hantu rejected the text when it was delivered last July and won a ruling from
a Beijing arbitration committee in December ordering Han to pay US$51,850 to
cover the advance, a penalty and
court costs.
When Han refused to pay, the publishers brought the case before the court in
Shanghai asking it to enforce the ruling. A statement on the court's Web site
said the ruling had been upheld and that Han was given a specific date by which
to pay or face confiscation of his
assets.
Hantu publishers had no listed phone number or Web site. Contact numbers for
Han and his lawyers have not been released, although postings on his
Chinese-language Web log said he believed he would win his appeal.
Han, 24, is among the stars of a loosely defined group of young authors
labeled the "post-80s" generation, known as much for his irreverent novels as
his outspoken personality. His volume of collected writings, "Five Years of Han
Han" has been translated into French, Korean and Japanese.
In recent years, Han has launched a second career as a semiprofessional race
car driver, causing many to question his commitment to the author's craft.
Last year, he engaged in a prolonged online spat with critic Bai Ye, who had
called Han and other post-80s writers hacks whose works had little to do with
real literature.