The temporary cancellation of his appearance at a literary festival had been seen as the latest sign of erosions of freedom in Hong Kong.
HONG KONG — An exiled Chinese novelist spoke at a literary festival in Hong Kong on Saturday, two days after his appearance had been briefly canceled in a move that was widely seen as the latest erosion of freedoms in the semiautonomous city.
The writer, Ma Jian, whose appearances at the Hong Kong International Literary Festival were reinstated at the last minute, said the reversal “proves the failure” of self-censorship.
Mr. Ma, a British citizen who lives in exile in London, said on Saturday that a robust literary culture helps to “safeguard the bottom line of our civilization.”
“Of course there is no way literature can resist a political force,” he told reporters at a hastily arranged news conference. But he said that “in fiction we find our real roots: the goodness of human nature.”
There had been concern that Mr. Ma might be taking a security risk by even traveling to Hong Kong, where a few booksellers who published titles critical of China’s Communist government have disappeared in recent years, only to turn up in custody on the Chinese mainland.
Mr. Ma’s appearances at the Tai Kwun Center for Heritage and Arts were thrown into doubt on Thursday when the venue said it would not host them. Mr. Ma’s books have been banned in mainland China since 1987, and he says his new novel, the biting satire “China Dream,” is a political allegory of the country’s modern self.
“We do not want Tai Kwun to become a platform to promote the political interests of any individual,” Timothy Calnin, the center’s director, said in a statement on Thursday. “We have therefore worked closely with the Hong Kong International Literary Festival to find a more suitable alternative venue.”
Tai Kwun reversed course on Friday, saying it had “reconsidered our position in light of the possibility that these events might be prevented from taking place altogether.”
Yet it was unclear on Friday whether Mr. Ma, who previously lived in Hong Kong and has permanent resident status here, would even be allowed to enter the city when his flight landed that evening.
