China makes Grimm error

CHINESE publishers have pulled a collection of Brothers Grimm fairy tales from children’s shelves in book stores after mistakenly translating a Japanese pornographic reinterpretation of the tales.

China Friendship Publishing Company and China Media Time translated the erotic retelling of the stories by the Japanese duo Kiryu Misao without credit after mistaking them for the originals, the Global Times newspaper reported.

“We couldn’t find the original German edition of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, so we took Japanese editions as our references and translated those,” a China Media Time official surnamed Yuan was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

These included a version of Snow White in which the heroine has sexual relations with her father and the seven dwarves, the newspaper said.

“The book was not supposed to be read by children, but it was put on the children’s literature shelf, so we asked to pull it,” Yuan said.

Chinese authorities often cite pornography to justify strict controls on the media and internet.