Take for example the book The Ugly Chinese, a critical look at Chinese political culture by exiled Taiwanese author Po Yang, publication of which was banned in the mainland in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but which later was quite popular: "In fact mainland Chinese just wished to express themselves through Po Yang, but if we said those things ourselves there would be trouble," says Wu Liang.
像七○年末、八○年初被大陸當局禁印，以檢討中國專制文化為內容的《醜陋的中國人》（台灣作家柏楊著）曾大規模風行，也在大陸文化界造成話題，「實在是大陸人想透過柏楊來說話，這些話若由我們來說，可麻煩了」，吳亮說。