The platform was launched on August 1, 2003. At launch, it was divided into two subsites: Jinjiang Literature City, a "library-like" repository of digitalized (and often pirated) copies of Chinese-language romance books, and Jinjiang Original Network, a platform on which authors could self-publish their works for free. Jinjiang Original Network was the basis for the website as it is known today. and in January 2008 it implemented a pay-to-read system with which writers could monetize their work. Following a 2011 incident in which technical problems resulted in loss of income for authors, Jinjiang Literature City experienced a large-scale exodus of authors and users, triggering a crisis of trust in the platform. In response to a 2014 anti-porn campaign by the
National Radio and Television Administration, Jinjiang Literature City banned many works and required authors of others to revise their stories to remove sexually explicit content. That same year, a popular Jinjiang Literature City novelist was arrested for writing and selling sexually explicit publications. China's National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications, a pornography watchdog, reported in 2019 that Jinjiang Literature City contained unspecified "illegal" and "obscene" content and ordered several sections of the site closed. Jinjiang Literature City responded that it would comply with the order. == Content ==