Mo Yan, China's first Nobel laureate for literature, has been greeted withsome extraordinary hostility in the west. This week Salman Rushdie described him as a "patsy" for the Chinese government. According to the distinguished sinologist Perry Link, "Chinese writers today, whether 'inside the system' or not, all must choose how they will relate to their country's authoritarian government." And, clearly, Mo Yan has not made the right choice, which is to range himself as an outspoken "dissident" against his country's authoritarian regime.