Film Censorship in China

Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey is a 2023 UK horror by Rhys Frake-Waterfield
Starring Nikolai Leon, Maria Taylor and Natasha Rose Mills

After Christopher Robin abandons them for college, Pooh and Piglet embark on a bloody rampage as they search for a new source of food.

The screening of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, a British slasher film due to be released in Hong Kong this week, has been cancelled supposedly for technical reasons.

Chinese censors have in the frequently targeted the Winnie the Pooh character due to memes that compare the gait and girth of the bumbling bear to President Xi Jinping. The comparisons began in 2013 when Xi visited the US and met his then counterpart, Barack Obama, and some online commentators seized on their likeness to Pooh and Tigger.

UK: Passed 18 uncut for strong violence, gory images, threat:

• 2023 Altitude Film Distribution (RB) Blu-ray at UK Amazon #ad released on 17th April 2023
• 2023 Altitude Film Distribution R2 DVD at UK Amazon released on 17th April 2023

Born to Fly is a 2022 China action drama by Liu Xiaoshi
Starring Yibo Wang, Jun Hu and Yosh Yu

The story of a special operations team headed by elite pilots , being ordered to test new fighter jets. Test flight after test flight, they continue to challenge the sky and the limits of themselves.

With hot young Chinese test pilots and heart-stopping aerial acrobatics, Born to Fly was supposed to be China's answer to Top Gun: Maverick. The wildly anticipated action flick stars Wang Yibo, a pop star turned actor (think China's Harry Styles), and was written and directed by Liu Xiaoshi, who cut his teeth making popular promotional videos for the Chinese military. Produced in full cooperation with the People's Liberation Army Air Force -- much as Maverick was with the U.S. Navy 204 the film showcases China's most advanced stealth fighter jet, the J-20.

So, when Born to Fly was officially scheduled for release on Sept. 30, the day before China's National Day holiday, many analysts were bullish on the tentpole's prospects to become China's next proudly nationalistic military blockbuster.

But Born to Fly was mysteriously grounded just days before its planned opening. The film's producers, including major studios Alibaba Pictures and Bona Film Group, put out a vague statement saying that the release would be postponed in order to present better production effects. No further details were provided and no update has been given.

Chinese authorities never comment directly on censorship decisions, but the word within the Beijing film industry is that Born to Fly's producers were made to realize that their movie's stunts and visual effects were far inferior to Top Gun: Maverick's and that the Chinese version risked ridicule in comparison -- all of which would have been most unwelcome, even politically dangerous, given that the two films are, in part, propagandistic displays of the United States' and China's military strengths.

Hong Kong has banned the screening of an award-winning animated short film over a one-second depiction of the city's 2014 democracy protests.

The Ground Up Film Society told AFP that it cancelled a Sunday screening of Losing Sight of a Longed Place at their film festival after Hong Kong authorities would not allow an uncut version to be shown.

The eight-minute film began as a student project and tells the true story of a Hong Kong gay rights activist.

Hong Kong censors demanded cutting a scene that lasts less than a second. The contentious shot shows tents and slogans reminiscent of Hong Kong's pro-democracy Umbrella Movement in 2014, which authorities describe as an unlawful occupation of thoroughfares.

Fight Club is a 1999 USA / Germany drama by David Fincher.
Starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter.      

A ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a slippery soap salesman channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on, with underground "fight clubs" forming in every town, until an eccentric gets in the way and ignites an out-of-control spiral toward oblivion.

Chinese streaming giant Tencent has reinstated the original ending of the Hollywood movie Fight Club after a censored version last month sparked backlash.

The original ending to the 1999 film Fight Club, starring Brad Pitt, shows scenes of explosions and relentless fighting. But China's version simply showed a message on screen saying the authorities won and saved the day.

The replacement version on Tencent reportedly restores about 11 of the 12 minutes that were cut. The scenes still missing are those featuring nudity.

The changes to the ending were: [ Spoilers! hover or click text below]

The film's original finale shows Norton's character killing his alter ego, before bombs destroy buildings in a subversive plot to reorder society.

China's version of the film, which was only released last month, cut all those scenes, and instead explained that the police foiled the plot, arrested the criminals and sent Durden to a lunatic asylum.

Do Not Split is a 2020 Norway / USA documentary short film by Anders Hammer
Starring Lucie Fouble and Colette Marin-Catherine

In 2019 Hong Kong was rocked by the largest protests since Britain handed back the area to China in 1997. This is the story of the protests, told through a series of demonstrations by local protesters that escalate into conflict when highly armed police appear on the scene.

For the first time in more than half a century, Hong Kong movie-lovers won't be able to watch the Oscars. The city's largest TV network TVB won't broadcast next month's ceremony after China asked media to play down the awards, following the nomination of a documentary on Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests and concern over the political views of Best Director contender Chloe Zhao .

Bloomberg reported earlier this month that the Communist Party's propaganda department told all local media outlets to scrap live broadcasts of the Oscars and focus coverage on awards that aren't seen as controversial.

China is wound up by Do Not Split, which chronicles the 2019 demonstrations against China's tightening grip over the former British territory and was nominated for best short documentary.

  Mulan is a 2020 USA family action adventure by Niki Caro.
Starring Yifei Liu, Donnie Yen and Jet Li.

A young Chinese maiden disguises herself as a male warrior in order to save her father. A live-action feature film based on Disney's 'Mulan.'

Mulan movie kiss scene CUT by Disney after China's censors demand removal DISNEY's Mulan movie has cut a kiss scene after Chinese censors forbid its inclusion. By George Simpson PUBLISHED: 13:20, Thu, Feb 27, 2020 | UPDATED: 16:39, Thu, Feb 27, 2020

Muland is a live action remake of a popular Disney cartoon movie. But the Chinese release has seen a kiss removed after China's local executives demand its censorship. The intimate moment was between Mulan and her love interest Chen Honghui.

According to The Hollywood Reporter , Disney showed Mulan at a Chinese test screening. And in the early cut, the kiss scene on a bridge did not go down well with the authorities. Director Niki Caro said:

It was very beautiful, but the China office went, 'No, you can't, that doesn't feel right to the Chinese people.

One of China's longest-running independent film festivals has decided to shut down against the backdrop of mounting government censorship.

The China International Film Festival (CIFF) announced:

We believe that under current local organizational conditions it is impossible to organize an effective film festival that has a pure, independent spirit.

The CIFF was founded in the eastern city of Nanjing in 2003 and has been staged 14 times. It had screened films on sensitive subjects such as homosexuality and controversies surrounding the massive Three Gorges Dam project in central China.

Hong Kong's South China Morning Post quoted Zhang Xianmin, a Beijing Film Academy professor and the festival's key organizer, as saying the shutdown takes China back to a more restricted era for film. Zhang added:

We just went back to 20 years ago, when there was no room and opportunity for independent films.

Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood is a 2019 USA / UK comedy drama by Quentin Tarantino.
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie.

Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood visits 1969 Los Angeles, where everything is changing, as TV star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) make their way around an industry they hardly recognize anymore. The ninth film from the writer-director features a large ensemble cast and multiple storylines in a tribute to the final moments of Hollywood's golden age.

A few days ago the Chinese cinema release of Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood was cancelled with just a week's notice. The film censors banned the film but did not given any explanation of the reason why.

Tarantino, who is known to be opposed to any kind of tinkering with his films and has final-cut rights included in his contract, has no plans to bring his film back to the editing bay, especially given that China has offered no explanation for what is objectionable in the film that revolves around the events leading up to the infamous Manson Family murders of 1969.

The decision to halt the release is speculated to be about Tarantino's portrayal of the late martial arts hero Bruce Lee, who was of Chinese descent. It seems that Bruce Lee's daughter, Shannon Lee, made a direct appeal to China's National Film Administration, asking that it demand changes to her father's portrayal. Friends and family of the Hollywood action star have criticized Tarantino for his portrayal of Lee, saying it doesn't resemble the real-life man and is instead a caricature.

Another source suggested that China may finally be balking at the film's violence, which is graphic at times but far less than a typical Tarantino film. However there are reports that the film had actually been approved and that the something must have happened to change the censor's mind.

Parasite is a 2019 South Korea comedy thriller by Joon-ho Bong (as Joon Ho Bong).
Starring Kang-ho Song, Yeo-jeong Jo and Woo-sik Choi.

All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.

The film was pulled from the FIRST film festival in Xining for technical reasons, a euphemism for being banned by the film censors.

No explanation was provided but it could be a simple as frosty relations between China and South Korea. No Korean films have been allowed to screen in China in the last two years.

The Hidden Sword is a 2017 China action drama by Haofeng Xu.
Starring Qing Xu, Jue Huang and Aoyue Zhang.

Latest film of Xu Haofeng, a new master of Chinese Wu Xia films, screenwriter of Wong Kar-wai's The Grandmaster. The new film tells a Chinese Wu Xia story happened in 1930s, but with a new presentation.

Long-awaited martial-arts film The Hidden Sword announced Monday that its theatrical release this Friday in China has been cancelled, presumably the latest casualty of a censorship campaign that is damaging the country's box office.

The Chinese film censors had granted the film at least enough permission to appear at international film festivals and it won awards at Montreal and Taiwan.

However the censors seemed to get cold feet at the domestic premiere. It was banned just 4 days before its premiere.

See Chinese Box Office Self-Harm Continues With Axing of 'The Hidden Sword' from variety.com

Christopher Robin is a 2018 USA children's musical by Marc Forster.
Starring Hayley Atwell, Ewan McGregor and Chris O'Dowd.

The Children's film Christopher Robin has been banned by Chinese film censors. No reason was given for the denial, but a source pinned the blame on China's crusade against images of the Winnie the Pooh character, which is widely used as a mocking representation of the Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Last summer, authorities began blocking pictures of Winnie the Pooh on social media when bloggers drew comparisons between the pudgy bear and Xi, which has put the country's censors in overdrive. In June, Chinese authorities blocked HBO after Last Week Tonight host John Oliver mocked Xi's sensitivity over being compared to Winnie the Pooh.

China's media censor is being taken to court over its view that homosexual activities are abnormal.

Following a crackdown on showing homosexuality in the country's media, a Beijing court has made the unusual move of accepting a legal challenge brought by a member of the public.

In the unlikely event that Fan Chunlin wins his case, China's State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) would be forced to publicly clarify a regulation banning gay sex.

With China's courts, the media and the SAPPRFT all controlled by the ruling communist party, the chances of Fan winning the case are small. However, Fan's lawyer, Tang Xiangqian, said that he hoped that the legal challenge will raise awareness of rights for homosexual people in the country.

A decision on the case is expected within six months.

For a long time in China there have been numerous censorship rules about storylines that could or could not appear in films. Stories with magical elements were strictly limited to taking place during ancient times, modern horror films depicting seemingly supernatural elements had to explain by the end of the film that the ghosts were just hallucinations or tricks setup by crazed killers, exceedingly bloody or violent scenes were nowhere to be seen.

The entire process of getting a film made was also once strictly supervised at every step of the way from the beginning of production all the way to right before a film hit theaters. But 2017 provided some hints that things are relaxing in the Chinese mainland.

In March of 2017, the government introduced the China Film Industry Promotion Law. One aspect of this new law has been to make it easier for films to start production. According to new regulations films that do not touch upon national security, diplomacy, ethnic minorities, religion, the military and other sensitive subjects, no longer need to hand in their scripts for approval prior to shooting.

A few example storylines have already surfaced that would not have been made a couple of years ago. In Hanson and the Beast , for example. The film takes place in modern times, yet tells the story of a zoo keeper who encounters and falls in love with a fox spirit. Many Chinese filmgoers were surprised to see spirits and demons straight out of Chinese legends depicted as living in modern China. The film does spend a few minutes of sci-fi hand-waving to explain why these fantasy creatures from Chinese legends actually exist.

Another example is the upcoming animated dark comedy Have a Nice Day , contains explicit violent imagery in its depiction of criminal gang activity. The film was selected to compete for the Golden Bear Award at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival last year, but many moviegoers in China thought that the film wouldn't see a release in its original form since it depicted the dark side of Chinese society. The film wasn't quite in its original form though as a few lines of dialogue were censored.

Perhaps China has realised that highly sanitised films are no good for selling to the west.

China has passed a new film censorship law mopping up a few more prohibitions somehow overlooked by previous censorship laws.

the law bans content deemed harmful to the dignity, honour and interests of the People's Republic and encouraging the promotion of socialist core values .

The law claims that its aim is to spread core socialist values , enrich the masses' spiritual and cultural life, and set ground rules for the industry.

The law further forbids content that criticised the law or constitution, harms national unity, sovereignty or territorial integrity, exposes national secrets, harms Chinese security, dignity, honour or interests, or spreads terrorism or extremism. Also banned are subjects that defame the people's excellent cultural traditions , incite ethnic hatred or discrimination or destroy ethnic unity.

It is also illegal for Chinese firms to hire or partner with overseas productions deemed to have views harmful to China's dignity, honour and interests, harm social stability or hurt the feelings of the Chinese people .

Films must not violate the country's religious policies, spread cults, or superstitions , insult or slander people.

The law comes into effect on March 1 next year.

China will soon enact a new film censorship law banning content relating to preaching terrorism and mandating clearance of a film by three 'experts' and also demanding that film personalities  abide by morality standards.

The law is currently being reviewed by China's legislature the National People's Congress (NPC). According to the bill, people working in the movie industry, including actors and directors, should strive for excellence in both professional skills and moral integrity, and build good public images.

The draft law also stresses that film distribution companies and cinemas should not fabricate movie screenings and ticket sales or take other improper means. This followed reports that Chinese film firms tried to inflate revenues with fake shows to inflate box office earnings to claim success.

The new law requires that films shall not contain any content preaching terrorism and extremism, and films shall be reviewed by at least three 'experts'.

Trigger warnings should be given to viewers, if films contain materials that might cause psychological or physical discomfort to viewers, such as minors.

China has approved for cinema release the first film with gay principal characters. Film director Wanga nnounced on Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter, that censors had given Seek McCartney permission for a cinema release. He said:

This is a small step for the film department, and a big step for the members of the film industry.

The film, a Chinese-French co-production, centres on a secret relationship between two men, one Chinese and one French.

Fan Popo, an LGBT filmmaker and rights activist was note entirely convinced that this is a policy change. He told AFP:

The fact that this film can be released in theatres doesn't mean gay films in the future will be able to released in China. China's system for evaluating films is still very unstable, because the rules are very unclear. It depends heavily on the individual censor's whims.

i Pixels is a 2015 USA action comedy by Chris Columbus.
Starring Adam Sandler, Kevin James and Michelle Monaghan.

When aliens misinterpret video feeds of classic arcade games as a declaration of war, they attack the Earth in the form of the video games.

According to some of the emails leaked from Sony, the studio heavily edited the movie Pixels to ensure it didn't fall foul of the ever-present Chinese censors.

Reuters is reporting that the original script for the movie, which made frequent references to China, was sanitized after executives felt it could hinder its global box office appeal.

For example, one scene, which featured pixelated aliens blasting a hole into the Great Wall of China, was decided to be too inflammatory for Chinese censors. Li Chow, chief representative of Sony Pictures in China, explained that although the film featured other landmarks being destroyed, it was simply better to lose the scene.

The original script also apparently contained references to a Communist Conspiracy brother hacking an email server. As you can expect, this was also stripped in an attempt to pass the movie for the Chinese market. In fact, by the end of the cull, there were no references to the authoritarian nation left in the script.

Initially, it seemed Sony execs toyed with the idea of releasing both a Chinese and international version of Pixels. Ultimately they decided this would likely backfire.

China's film censor is planning to decentralize the censorship process for local movies, granting bureaus in the provinces the power to censor films.

As it stands, filmmakers face lengthy waiting periods for approval of their movies from the Film Bureau in Beijing (SARFT), which is part of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.

The move is due to happen in April and is limited to local films. The censorship of imported Hollywood films, and co-productions with international firms, will remain under the control of the central Film Bureau in Beijing.

SARFT will retain responsibility for the censorship of national films, for censoring movies produced by central government and military film production companies, and the censorship of imported films and co-productions with overseas firms. It will also be responsible for reviewing the films that are censored by the provincial bureaus, responsible for handling the film release license and responsible for the censorship of the film if the film production company has some objections to the decision..