A popular Chinese love-story movie was removed from all Chinese theatres and streaming services only weeks after its release.
The China Film Administration issued a permit to screen the movie, which opened on July 8. It nabbed the top spot at the box office on Sept. 7, grossing over 100 million yuan (about $14 million).
However, the movie suddenly disappeared from Chinese theaters and streaming services on Sept. 26.
Poverty Revealed
Written and directed by Chinese director Li Ruijun, the movie is set in a village in one of the poorest regions in the country.The storyline is simple and realistic, and the characters are played by local farmers, except for actress Hai Qing who plays the female lead.
Ma Youtie, played by a local farmer and untrained actor Wu Renlin, is a poor farmer who has only an old donkey. He is hardworking and good at doing various jobs on the farm.
Ma’s harvest consists of 2,010 pounds of wheat and 8,811 pounds of corn, which he sells for 3974 yuan (about $557). He had to spend 1570 yuan (about $220) for chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and seeds. Thus, the family’s net income for the year is 2400 yuan (about $337).
Controversy
The movie was sold to several European distributors and was well received abroad.One user wrote: “We need more films like this... This is one of the few outstanding films about farmers or people at the bottom of society in mainland China in recent years.”
Another user posted: “In the movie, nearly 11,000 pounds of grain can only be sold for more than three thousand yuan. After deducting the expenses, Ma earns only 2000 yuan for a year. This is not just a movie, but the real state of the countryside. For decades, the state owes the farmers the most.”
One person wrote: “There are 800 million people in China, who they [the communist authorities] called ‘comrades’ in the early years, ‘fellow villagers’ later, and ‘migrant workers’ recently. These people are in so low a profile that they only appear in the public once a year—as characters in sketches, poor fellows whose wages are paid—on the central television channel on Chinese New Year’s Eve. ”
One user wrote ironically that Chinese farmers should “hide themselves in the dust” as they are not inconspicuous enough, because “poverty in China has been eliminated.”
However, Party supporters publicly attacked the movie.
Zheng Yanshi, a researcher at a China thinktank Kunlunce, criticized the movie for smearing the ‘great achievements of poverty alleviation under the leadership of the [Chinese Communist] Party.’”
He asked the production team: “Who are you speaking for, and is your ass already sitting on the side of imperialism?”
Zheng then condemns the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) watchdog of movies and TV programs: “Those who are responsible for the censorship and gatekeeping, how did you assess such a bad and filthy movie?”
In China, all movies and TV series must be submitted to the State Film Administration for its approval. It issues a permit for screening after it makes a judgment that the assessed work meet all its propaganda requirements.
CCP Doesn’t Like Truth to Be Revealed: China Experts
China experts believe the sudden disappearance of the movie shows that the CCP maintains strict control over the contents of movies and TV series.Lin Song, a media professional based in Australia, told the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times on Sept. 27 that the CCP doesn’t permit Chinese people to say anything at odds with the CCP’s propaganda.
“You are not allowed to disclose the true dark side of the rural areas in China. If you do so, you are anti-CCP,” Lin said, adding this is the reason the movie was removed before the national party congress later this month.
In a phone interview with The Epoch Times on Sept. 27, Li Yuanhua, former associate professor of Capital Normal University in Beijing, said “The movie gets a high rating on Douban because it tells the truth about rural life in China.”
