'Shanghai Baby': author of racy novel says she self-censored her latest book

Zhou Weihui, whose best-selling novel "Shanghai Baby" was banned in China for its sexual content when it was published in 1999, said she self-censored her newest book because the Chinese government allowed her to return home from abroad, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Zhou has spent much of her time in New York since China banned "Shanghai Baby," a semi-autobiographical story about young slackers indulging in drugs and sex.

Since moving to New York, Zhou said she has been studying meditation, Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism, the South China Morning Post reported. Her latest book, "Marrying Buddha," is about "spiritual fulfillment and how to balance East and West," she was quoted as saying.

Zhou, whose new book wasn't banned by Beijing, said she enjoys returning to China and wouldn't be happy living abroad full time.

"I was so happy that (the government) had allowed me to return that I deleted some parts of the book myself," she was quoted as saying. "I took out some sexual parts and some things about Chinese male authors who get monthly allowances from the government."

But the government canceled her book tour, Zhou was quoted as saying. "They said, 'We don't want you to be so obvious,' so I said, 'OK,' because I was just glad to have the book published in China", reported AP. P.T.