A young mother and her daughter look at a book at the Beijing International Book Fair in 2018. File Photo: Li Hao/GT

More than 1,000 children's books were recently pulled from bookstores during a campaign to create a healthy environment for young readers, but the move by some local authorities in China has triggered controversy and is being called a hypercorrection. 

The simmering public discussion comes after 1,415 children's books were removed on July 9 from bookstore in Zhaoyang district of Zhaotong city, Southwest China's Yunnan Province because of their "negative values," according to local media reports. Challenged by the outcry, one of the books was removed from the blacklist.

The move was initiated by the district's working group against pornographic and illegal publications, and part of China's "sprout-protecting" campaign aimed at providing a healthy environment for young people.

According to the statement published by the district on July 13, some well-known literature for children made the list, including Xiaoquan Mi Goes to School and Naughty Boy Ma Xiaotiao. The blacklisted books were said to promote suicide, violence, eroticism, bad habits, misleading values and other transgressions. Local bookstores were required to remove the books. 

In one controversial chapter in Xiaoquan Mi Goes to School, the protagonist says he doesn't want a classmate to be the class monitor, because she is too strict with others. 

This passage was cited for prompting jealousy. Others argue it reflects children's actually feeling. 

Xiaoquan Mi Goes to School was reportedly blacklisted because the author gives teachers and students  "nicknames," which could exert a negative effect on children

Earlier in June,  children's books were also removed from bookstores across China including East China's Fujian Province and Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province where authorities accused  Naughty Boy Ma Xiaotiao of promoting suicide. 

Chang Qing, president of Sichuan Children's Publishing House, the publisher of Xiaoquan Mi Goes to School, told media that blacklisting the books was reckless and irresponsible. The books are still available on online.

Netizens expressed a variety of opinions on social media platform Sina Weibo. One comment read, "for sure we should not promote the idea of suicide in a children's book." 

Many other commentators saw the removal as an overcorrection. A netizen who claimed to be a parent of a primary school student said that the blacklisted books such as Xiaoquan Mi Goes to School would not have a negative effect on children as long as parents and teachers can give a proper guidance.

"Most of the content in the book is positive and encouraging," the netizen wrote.

The removal of the children's books by some local governments has further sparked debate over whether children should be shielded from topics such as sex and death. 

The discussion prompted one observer to ask: "Isn't it be better to educate children about life, empathy, and proper expression, than prevent them from accessing the things they will  invariably experience in life?"