Chinese television producers are exercising their artistic license when shooting a Party-approved historical drama in the hopes of getting higher ratings. Viewers are not amused.
State censors prohibit movies and television shows from depicting a whole range of topics—absolutely no aliens, ghosts, reincarnation, and supernormal abilities because they are “unscientific,” for example. The State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television regularly updates this long list, causing headaches for Chinese producers.
Because the “industry’s professionals can’t grasp the censorship trend ... they’ve all stuck to shooting anti-Japanese War dramas,” said Chinese screenwriter and producer Wang Biao, who goes by his pen name Jiu Nian, to Beijing News.
The anti-Japanese war—better known internationally as the Second Sino-Japanese War—is approved for ideological entertainment because it fits the narrative the Communist Party wishes to promote.
