Hong Kong and Macau, being Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic, are not governed by this scheme having their own, independent rating systems, explaining how some works can be shown in Hong Kong but not in the mainland. This censorship policy only applies in mainland China. Some media supposed to be banned in China are not banned at all, usually due to mistranslations courtesy of lack of independent verification and language barrier between China and the West. The rules apply both to domestic and foreign media, with local producers getting the extra burden of constant executive meddling at every stage of production, consequently, making Chinese productions very linear and watered-down. With China's massive population and growing economy, foreign media producers wanting a piece of massive official market in China became increasingly willing to censor or edit their own works seeking approval of the Chinese censorship board. Only mentioning these territories, even non-provocatively, is a warrant to cause the CCP to threaten to stop doing business with the offending third party. The bans are seldom enfoced and banned works can be bought at flea markets and experience a rising popularity due to a Streisand effect.Īny work criticizing the government, makes fun of China or the China as whole or reference the most unpleasant events in China's history (such as the ones involving the Communist Party of China, as well as the Second Sino-Japanese War) or even risk inciting a revolution that could lead to the overthrow of the Communist government in favor of democracy is banned as well.Īnything that refers Taiwan as an independent country is banned (including displaying the flag of Taiwan, unless used in rare instances and historical context), since the Communist Party of China and Chinese nationalists view the island as a province of China.Īny work created by supporters of Tibet, Hong Kong or Taiwan independence might be banned. However, this system does little to stop domestic consumption of foreign works in China, due to piracy being huge in the country, whcih cannot be prevented mostly. The criteria for passing often are arbitrary, vague or secret, so is not easy to determine in advance what will pass muster, fostering an industry of self-censorship. Like many other countries, the censor board's failure to rate a film equals to a ban. Media censorhip in mainland China is generally handed by the National Radio and Television Administrattion (NRTA), with a strict pass-fail rating system similar to the Hays Code: either the film is appropriate for all ages, or is rejected, without any ratings inbetween. China is very authoritarian and paternalistic and thus, the government has a lot of power and inclination to ban anything it deems having a bad influence on the people.China is a big (even if nominally) communist country and export market, so the producers want their works to make it there as they can,. Its censorship system is the most visible for the following factors:
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