 In China, BL became very popular in the late 1990s, attracting media attention, which became negative, focusing on the challenge it posed to "heterosexual hegemony".Publishing and distributing BL is illegal in mainland China.Zanghellini notes that due to the "characteristics of the "yaoi"/BL genre" of showing characters who are often underage engaging in romantic and sexual situations, child pornography laws in Australia and Canada "may lend themselves to targeting "yaoi"/BL work".