| 1 | [[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/{{Devotion}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/v1yvfes_4.png]]]] |
| 2 | [[caption-width-right:350:''Translation: According to the related laws, this software will not run in your country. Thank you for understanding and co-operation.'']] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | The trope BannedInChina [[TropeNamer is named for]] the People's Republic of UsefulNotes/{{China}}, a country infamous for banning works seemingly arbitrarily. It might not be the most prolific, but it's certainly one of the most visible, because (a) China is a big country and a big export market, so producers want their works to make it there however they can and (b) China is also totalitarian and paternalistic, so the government has a lot of power and inclination to ban anything it feels has a bad influence on the people. This, of course, would include works which criticize or undermine the government, make fun of China or the Chinese as a whole, reference the more unpleasant events in China's history (particularly ones involving the Communist Party of China, as well as the UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar, which remain a sore point between China and Japan), or even risk inciting a revolution that could depose the totalitarian government in favor of democracy. LGBT content puts the work at risk of being banned, for fear it could change people's sexual orientation, though Danmei and Baihe (Chinese version of the [[YaoiGenre Yaoi]] and [[YuriGenre Yuri]] genres) are highly popular in the country, with multiple adaptations in Manhua, Donghua, and Live-Action even being produced from novels.[[note]]That is until the Chinese Government intervened in the rising popularity of Danmei and created tighter regulations regarding the portrayal of men in media. This resulted in nearly all Danmei novels being locked on online platforms and having many Danmei/Dangai adaptations either quietly removed or in DevelopmentHell. Baihe, on the other hand, is left untouched.[[/note]] Any works created by someone who supports independence for UsefulNotes/{{Tibet}}, UsefulNotes/HongKong, UsefulNotes/{{Xinjiang}}, or UsefulNotes/{{Taiwan}} might [[BerserkButton incur a ban also]]. ([[DeadpanSnarker Surprisingly,]] [[TheUnfavourite no one is talking about]] [[UsefulNotes/{{Mongolia}} Inner Mongolia]] or UsefulNotes/{{Macau}}, [[AllCrimesAreEqual even if the same rule still applies there]].) Sometimes, the ''mere mention'' of any of these territories, even in a non-provocative context, is enough to cause the CCP to at least threaten to stop doing business with the offending third party. |
| 5 | |
| 6 | Censorship of media is generally handled by the National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA), with a strict pass-fail rating system similar to that of UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode: either the film is appropriate for all ages, or it's rejected, without any ratings in-between. As with most other countries, the censor board's failure to rate a film equals a ban. The criteria for passing are often arbitrary, vague, or otherwise secret, so it's not easy to determine in advance what will pass muster, and fosters an industry of self- |
| 7 | censorship. Some individual theater managers will have unofficial ratings for films which otherwise pass, but these are relatively rare and separate from the government sanction. On the other hand, some media supposedly banned in China were not banned at all, often due to mistranslations thanks to a lack of independent verification and the wide cultural and language barrier between China and the Western world. |
| 8 | |
| 9 | This system, by the way, does very little to stop domestic consumption of foreign works in China. Piracy is huge there, and it can't be prevented for the most part. The bans are seldomly enforced, and supposedly banned works can often be bought at flea markets, and experience a rise in popularity due to the StreisandEffect. China's media legislation is also well known for its quotas of foreign films allowed to be shown in the country per year as a means of protectionism. With China's massive population and growing economy, foreign media producers wanting a piece of the massive official market in China have become increasingly willing to censor or re-cut their own works to seek the approval of Chinese censors. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | A note is that the rules apply equally to domestic and foreign media, with local producers getting the extra headache of receiving constant ExecutiveMeddling in just about every stage of production, so Chinese productions tend to be very linear and watered-down. |
| 12 | |
| 13 | This banning policy only applies in the mainland. UsefulNotes/HongKong and UsefulNotes/{{Macau}} are Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic, and they aren't governed by this scheme; they have their own, independent rating systems. This is how some works can be shown in Hong Kong but not in the mainland.[[note]]This has started to change in TheNewTwenties in Hong Kong in particular, where China has started to take more control of free speech and expression within the region, 30 years ahead of the agreement to allow Hong Kong to self-govern until 2047.[[/note]] |
| 14 | |
| 15 | This list also includes UsefulNotes/{{Taiwan}}, an island republic ruled by the Republic of China, to which the Kuomintang retreated from the mainland after being defeated by the Communists in the Chinese Civil War. Given that the CCP and Chinese nationalists view Taiwan as their own, referring to it as a separate nation (including displaying the flag of Taiwan[[note]]unless it can be used in rare instances and for historical context[[/note]]) is a massive BerserkButton for them. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | Be advised that if you are from mainland China and Hong Kong, and write on this website about topics banned by China, the Chinese government can read your posts and may be able to find you and punish you.[[labelnote:Tip]]Use VPN first before attempting to write for safety reasons[[/labelnote]] |
| 18 | |
| 19 | ---- |
| 20 | !!Examples: |
| 21 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 22 | |
| 23 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 24 | * ''Anime/AmaimWarriorAtTheBorderline'' has been yanked off of Chinese streaming site Bilibili, due to the Asian Free Trade Entente being shown in a bad light like engaging in police brutality, random executions, and human trafficking. As the aforementioned faction is said to be dominated by China and most of the characters shown have Chinese names, it was probably viewed that it was a jab against the current Chinese government. |
| 25 | * ''Manga/DeathNote'' was banned in China for allegedly inciting anarchy and insubordination, after some kids and teens were caught using ripoff notebooks to make hit lists. That being said, it did receive a Cantonese dub and was aired in Hong Kong. |
| 26 | * 15 episodes of ''Manga/DoctorSlump'' were [[MissingEpisode skipped]] when the anime first aired in Hong Kong due to their unacceptable contents. Those episodes would aired there almost three decades later, but only in the late night time slot, and with a [[TheOtherDarrin different dubbing cast.]] |
| 27 | * ''Anime/CodeGeass'' was once banned in China for its themes of rebellion and the dignity of oppressed minorities. The second season also portrays China as a nation of starving citizens oppressed by a group of power-hungry creeps using the twelve-year-old heir to the throne as their [[PuppetKing puppet]], never mind that this is a WholePlotReference to ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'' before a bunch of Japanese guys led by a [[MightyWhitey white guy]] incite a revolution and overthrow them, which doesn't help matters. It was un-banned in 2008. Allegedly, the real reason it got banned was because of the nudity. |
| 28 | * YaoiGenre manga, anime, and games have been suppressed, banned and regulated in mainland China and Hong Kong for fear that "[r]eading too much [yaoi] material will change [girls'] sexual orientation somehow"; see [[http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue20/liu.htm this academic paper]]. A couple of Yaoi magazines such as ''BOLO'' and ''801 Kano'' are still being published as special issues of other publications, though. |
| 29 | * In 2015, the Chinese government started cracking down on "violent" and "sexually oriented" anime and manga in print and the internet. These include ''Anime/BloodC'', ''Anime/PsychoPass'', ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'', ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'', ''Manga/HighSchoolOfTheDead'', and ''Manga/DeadmanWonderland'', ''Anime/DevilMayCryTheAnimatedSeries'', [[https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2015-06-09/china-blacklists-attack-on-titan-death-note-36-more-anime-manga/.89055 among others.]] |
| 30 | * The first 26 episodes of the first season of ''Anime/TwinPrincessOfWonderPlanet'' were dubbed in Chinese under the name "Mysterious Planet Twin Princesses" ('''Chinese:''' 神秘星球孪生公主) and were aired on CCTV-14 at 6PM (18:00) starting on March 27, 2007, but were disguised as a Chinese cartoon in order to get a primetime airslot (5PM-8PM). This violated a Chinese law stating that only Chinese programming could be aired in those slots. When someone pointed out that the anime was made in Japan, CCTV realized they had been "fooled", removing the anime series from their channel for good one month later. |
| 31 | * The second season of the ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'' anime was banned. Though probably due to differing regulators as well as how a cut version was available, the first season, the movie, and the BloodierAndGorier third season weren't. |
| 32 | * ''Anime/DarlingInTheFranxx'' and ''Manga/SlowStart'' were pulled from Chinese streaming service [=iQiyi=] after being reported to the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. A heated FlameWar between fans of ''DARLING'' and ''Literature/VioletEvergarden'' led to the former being reported for immorality, with ''Slow Start'' being pulled as collateral simply for sharing a producer with ''DARLING'', Creator/A1Pictures. |
| 33 | * Some Chinese manga websites often restricts access to the {{Ecchi}} genre for local IP addresses. |
| 34 | * {{Hentai}} (and basically anything else pornographic) is banned in China too, obviously. This hasn't stopped some fans there from importing hentai anime and manga into the country thru black market or access it via VPN though to the point where some made hentai of their own as a protest (see Asian Animation below). |
| 35 | * ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' received a ban (preceded by intense backlash from domestic readers and viewers) after it was leaked that the real name of an evil scientist known as the Doctor would be revealed as "Maruta Shiga". "Maruta" was the Japanese code name for human experimentation conducted by Unit 731 during World War II, so the name opened up some old wounds for the Chinese government. The author and publisher issued an apology and a promise to change the name, but [[OvershadowedByControversy the damage was already done]]. |
| 36 | * In February 5, 2021, illegal Chinese streaming website "House of Anime" ('''Chinese:''' 动漫之家 ''Dòngmàn zhī jiā)'' were banned and fined ¥3 million for streaming illegal anime (also banned in China) containing unacceptable content such as gore and sexually suggestive imagery. [[https://i.imgur.com/qyrkBmJ.png The full (Chinese) post about this can be seen here.]] |
| 37 | * ''Literature/KonoSuba'' has been pulled out of Chinese streaming sites due to starring Creator/AiKayano, who tweeted about "nice air" in Yasukuni Shrine (which reveres soldiers who fought for Japan, including Imperial Japanese soldiers who committed atrocities such as Nanking and Unit 731) in February 2021. |
| 38 | [[/folder]] |
| 39 | |
| 40 | [[folder:AsianAnimation]] |
| 41 | * Numerous episodes of ''Beryl and Sapphire'', a Chinese show based on Ocarina's webcomic of the same name, were kept off the shelf due to depictions of homosexuality. |
| 42 | * 2011 Chinese Flash animation ''Rabbit Kuang Kuang'' ('''Chinese:''' 小兔子哐哐 ''Xiǎo tùzǐ kuāng kuāng),'' was currently banned on Chinese video websites due to it referencing a few other forbidden topics of China, including the 2008 Chinese milk scandal, [[note]]The milk tigers used to poison the bunnies is "Three-Tigers Milk Powder" ('''Chinese:''' 三虎牌奶粉 ''Sān hǔ pái nǎifěn),'' which is a parody of the infamous Sanlu Group, which responsible for the scandal in the real life[[/note]] and the New Campus of Hebei University "10·16" Traffic Accident Escape Case (and its (in)famous catchphrase delivered by the perpetrator, "My dad is Li Gang" ('''Chinese:''' 我爸是李剛 ''Wǒ bà shì lǐgāng),'' which parodied as "My dad is Tiger Gang" ('''Chinese:''' 我爸是虎刚 ''Wǒ bà shì hǔ gāng).'' |
| 43 | * For some controversial reasons, ''Animation/SuperWings'' was taken down from Chinese video websites in early 2021; the entire series was taken down from [=CCTV=]'s online video streaming service, and information about the series was restricted on the Chinese internet. |
| 44 | * In 2021, the second episode of the Chinese animated series ''Wangpai Yushi'' was [[MissingEpisode thrown offline.]] Though no valid reason has yet been given, people have speculated that the reason behind its disappearance might be because of a scene featuring a brief cameo of a ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh'' toy, with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=396&v=gXmCK80vsPc&feature=youtu.be his face pixelated]] (see "Western Animation" below for other details). |
| 45 | * Invoked with ''Meijyou'' (AKA Miqing), which is is a {{Hentai}} ''[[Main/ChineseAnimation donghua]]'' that was made only to defy, challenge and attack [[BannedInChina China's censorship laws]], although the H-scenes themselves were animated in Japan. The donghua's creators would be arrested. If you thought ''Animation/CupidsChocolates'' was donghua's raunchiest title, you're mistaken. |
| 46 | [[/folder]] |
| 47 | |
| 48 | |
| 49 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 50 | * ComicBook/ChickTracts are illegal in China. |
| 51 | * During Mao's regime, the Franchise/{{Tintin}} comic book albums ''[[Recap/TintinTheBlueLotus The Blue Lotus]]'' and ''[[Recap/TintinTintinInTibet Tintin in Tibet]]'' were unavailable, while other Tintin stories were. After Mao's death, the stories were eventually released, but the title of ''Tintin in Tibet'' was changed into ''"Tintin in Chinese Tibet"'', since China has occupied Tibet since the 1950s. Hergé and his lawyers sued successfully to get the title changed back. |
| 52 | [[/folder]] |
| 53 | |
| 54 | [[folder:Fan Fic]] |
| 55 | * In China, people have been [[http://www.themarysue.com/fanfic-writers-arrested-in-china/ arrested]] for writing gay fanfiction, especially erotica. [[http://www.thewire.com/culture/2014/01/chinese-women-cant-stop-reading-and-writing-sherlock-gay-fan-fic/357046/ This hasn't stopped China's]] ''{{Series/Sherlock}}'' and ''{{Series/Supernatural}}'' fandoms though. |
| 56 | [[/folder]] |
| 57 | |
| 58 | [[folder:Film]] |
| 59 | China automatically "bans" (or, more accurately, puts a quota on) all non-Chinese movies, only giving special permits for a fixed number of foreign films to be shown per year. In theory, this protects their domestic film industry from bigger-budget foreign competition. In practice, it has spawned a massive and well-established market for pirated foreign movies. They also use the ban to pressure Hollywood studios to include favorable depictions of the country in films and discourage anything that portrays the nation in a bad light. PEN America has [[https://pen.org/report/made-in-hollywood-censored-by-beijing/ published a lengthy report]] on the pervasive influence the Chinese government has come to have on Hollywood studios seeking to avert this trope. |
| 60 | |
| 61 | !!Animation |
| 62 | * ''Franchise/DespicableMe'': |
| 63 | ** ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe2'' was initially banned in China, but was allowed a release in December 2013. |
| 64 | ** While the film wasn't banned, the Chinese release of the ''WesternAnimation/MinionsTheRiseOfGru'' has a RevisedEnding with [[https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/minions-the-rise-of-gru-new-ending-china-local-censors-192341480.html a message]] saying that Wild Knuckles was caught by police and served 20 years in jail, pursued his love of acting and started his own theater troupe, while Gru has returned to his family. |
| 65 | * ''WesternAnimation/SausageParty'' was withheld from release in China for being utterly raunchy, violent, profane, and [[AnimationAgeGhetto animated to boot]]. Between the inevitable cuts and the equally inevitable [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids angry parents taking their kids to see it because hey, cartoons are for kids!]], it was deemed safer to just not release the film at all. |
| 66 | |
| 67 | !!Live-Action |
| 68 | * The movie ''Temptress Moon'' was promoted in the United States as "a seductive new film so provocative it was banned in its own country." As [[http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19970629/ANSWERMAN/706290303&template=printart a writer to Roger Ebert's Movie Answer Man column]] pointed out, "considering that its own country is China, that's [[LiesDamnedLiesAndStatistics not such a big deal]]." |
| 69 | * ''Film/FromBeijingWithLove'' is banned in China for referencing the Tiananmen Square massacre. During the ending, Ling Ling-Chat's blade (a weapon portrayed in the film for slaughtering pigs) is emblazoned with the calligraphy of Deng Xiaoping "Hero of the Nation", a title given to the squad that participated in said massacre. |
| 70 | * Many of Creator/ZhangYimou's films. ''Literature/ToLive'' (1994) has never been shown in China, due to negative portayals of Maoism and the Cultural Revolution; the film also got Zhang himself banned from making movies for two years. Other of his films such as ''Film/JuDou'' and ''Film/RaiseTheRedLantern'' were eventually released after serving a couple of years in Chinese movie jail. |
| 71 | * Any form of discussion about the oppression of the Tibetans or the Tiananmen Square massacre (if it is in media or not) will get you arrested and scrutinized by the Chinese government. The [[PoliticallyCorrectHistory government-approved history textbooks]] will [[PoliticallyCorrectHistory only give them cursory mention, if at all]]. Among films banned for addressing these topics: |
| 72 | ** ''Film/SevenYearsInTibet'' is banned, and so are the two stars, Creator/BradPitt and Creator/DavidThewlis. Director Jean-Jacques Arnaud was banned as well, but has since been invited to make a movie on the Inner Mongolian culture, ''The Wolf Totem''. |
| 73 | ** ''Film/{{Kundun}}'', another movie with the Dalai Lama, is also banned from China, as were director Creator/MartinScorsese and the late writer Melissa Mathison. On top of that, it was a BoxOfficeBomb and put Disney in hot water with China regarding ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}''. Years later, Disney have tried to clear their name off the film by refusing to put the film on Creator/DisneyPlus and by sub-licensing the North American Blu-ray release to home video distributor Kino Lorber incognito. |
| 74 | ** ''The Wolf Totem'' itself averted this, but barely. The book would have been banned, as the author Jiang Rong was arrested and imprisoned for his participation in the Tiananmen protests. This is the reason why he remained reclusive despite that novel's success; he knew he wasn't ''that'' trusted. |
| 75 | * Despite being popular among the Chinese people, the 2017 Korean film ''Film/ATaxiDriver'' was kicked out by the government over fears that a movie centered on the Gwangju massacre would [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything remind people]] of the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre of 1989. However, that being said, it did receive a September release in Hong Kong. |
| 76 | * The good news: China celebrated Creator/AngLee's winning of an Oscar for ''Film/BrokebackMountain'' as a triumph for Chinese people. The bad news: ''Brokeback Mountain'' is an unabashedly LGBT film and is thus banned in China. Also, Lee's from Taiwan, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_status_of_Taiwan but that's another discussion]]. |
| 77 | * The Hong Kong film ''Film/TenYears'' (2015) is banned in China for depicting a bleak future for Hong Kong under Beijing's control. The broadcast of the 35th Hong Kong Film Award, in which this film was honored for best film, was also banned in China for the same reason. |
| 78 | * ''Trivisa'', another Hong Kong film, is believed to be also banned in China because Jevons Au (who also directed ''Ten Years'') is the one of the three directors in this film. Mentions of the film at the Hong Kong Film Awards, at which it won five awards including Best Picture, were also censored in China. |
| 79 | * China has been expunging Creator/ChloeZhao and her films on the web (including ''Film/{{Nomadland}}'') after she said that China "is a place where there are lies everywhere" in a 2013 interview. |
| 80 | * ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'' can only be shown in China if all the scenes with Sao Feng in them are edited or modified to remove him. Apparently, he is a "[[YellowPeril negative portrayal]]" of the Chinese (although honestly, it would not make that much of a difference on the film's plot). |
| 81 | * Creator/WarnerBros had refused to screen ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' in China for its portrayal of the Chinese criminal accountant Lau (played by Singaporean Chin Han) and implying that Hong Kong police are corrupt, for fear that it would offend the Chinese. However, it is apparently one of the most popular bootleg DVD titles in China. |
| 82 | * The second ''[[Film/LaraCroftTombRaider Tomb Raider]]'' film was banned for depicting China as having "secret societies". |
| 83 | * Creator/MartinScorsese was already banned from entering China after making ''Film/{{Kundun}}'', a biography of the Dalai Lama. And then ''Film/TheDeparted'' was banned for having a scene with Chinese authorities buying advanced computer chip technology. |
| 84 | * ''Film/MissionImpossibleIII'' gave the government some cause for concern, as it depicts the Chinese police as incompetent and shows poor living conditions in Chinese villages. There is also one scene where graffiti advertising a document forgery service (which is apparently a big business in China) can be glimpsed. Interestingly, it is re-included in the Warner Home Video [=DVD=] release. |
| 85 | * ''Film/RaiseTheRedLantern'' was banned in China -- [[EveryManHasHisPrice until it helped raise their tourism]]. |
| 86 | * It's commonly believed that China bans [[http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/04/china_bans_time_travel_movies.html all movies concerning]] TimeTravel, as Chinese culture has so much respect for its ancestors that it will not allow a depiction of them that will necessarily be somewhat inaccurate. It turns out they don't ban it outright, but [[http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/making-tv-safer-chinese-censors-crack-down-on-time-travel/ they do have a guideline discouraging it]], which included a recommendation that filmmakers no longer adapt the Four Great Classical Novels (''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'', ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', ''Literature/WaterMargin'' and ''Literature/DreamOfTheRedChamber'') either. |
| 87 | * ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' was released in China, but its 2D version was pulled from cinemas very quickly afterwards despite the film being the most popular shown in China ''ever''. It was long rumored that this was because oppressed Chinese citizens could be inspired by the film's message, but at least part of it was also because it was eating into the profit margin of a state-sanctioned biopic of Confucius that was running concurrently. They never had a problem with the 3D version, though. |
| 88 | * ''Film/DjangoUnchained'' was initially banned in China. However, it got a release on May 12, 2013, after scenes involving [[https://web.archive.org/web/20130427142431/https://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/26/entertainment-us-django-china-idUSBRE93P1AI20130426 nudity, excessive violence, and "politically sensitive" topics]] were edited out. |
| 89 | * Subverted, incredibly, by ''Film/VForVendetta'', which was released in DVD in 2006 and was [[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/20/v-for-vendetta-china-tv_n_2335144.html aired on TV in December 2012]]. |
| 90 | * ''Film/FiftyShadesOfGrey'' was not banned in China; the studio [[http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/02/13/film-fiftyshades-idINKBN0LH2E620150213 didn't even try]] to release it there, knowing that it wouldn't pass the censor board. Funnily enough, the sequels were [[InternationalCoproduction co-productions between the US, Japan and China]], [[SequelFirst and were permitted to be shown in China even without an official release of the first film]]. |
| 91 | * While it was not banned, ''Film/{{Pixels}}'' was edited to remove a scene showing the aliens blowing a hole in the Great Wall of China out of fears that it would get the movie banned over there. |
| 92 | * ''Film/CrimsonPeak'' may not get released in China due to censorship guidelines discouraging films promoting "cults or superstition." This also extends to ghosts and other supernatural beings depicted in [[MagicalRealism realistic]] environments (stories based on Chinese mythology are exempted). |
| 93 | * ''Deadpool'': |
| 94 | ** ''Film/Deadpool2016'' was not released in China, as the producers claimed it would have been impossible to cut all the copious violence, sex, and bad language and end up with anything resembling a coherent film. |
| 95 | ** ''Film/Deadpool2'' also wasn't initially released in China for the same reason. Turns out that ''Once Upon a Deadpool'' (a Christmas-themed, PG-13-rated re-edit of ''Deadpool 2''), was mainly done to secure a release there. It was released in the Middle Kingdom on January 25th, 2019. |
| 96 | * ''Film/MenInBlack3'' had the FriendlyLocalChinatown shootout scene with J [[LaserGuidedAmnesia memory-wiping Chinese bystanders]] removed. No official reason was given but it's been speculated by Chinese journalists that it was done [[BigBrotherIsWatching to avoid any comments about parallels to their society]]. |
| 97 | * The 2016 ''Film/{{Ghostbusters|2016}}'' reboot was barred from release in China, allegedly due to an obscure guideline against the depictions of supernatural beings and ghosts, but a financing partner for the movie, based in China, clarified that the real reason was because [[http://www.polygon.com/2016/7/13/12179968/ghostbusters-release-china there was little hype for the movie in that region]]. |
| 98 | * ''Film/ChristopherRobin'' was denied an official release in China due to falling outside of the quota on foreign films. As listed under Western Animation, many have speculated that the ban partially due to censorship of Literature/WinnieThePooh and comparisons of the character with Chinese president Xi Jinping. |
| 99 | * ''Film/MonsterHunter2020'', based on [[VideoGame/MonsterHunter the video game of the same name]], was [[http://scifi4me.com/monster-hunter-banned-in-china-racial-slurs/ flooded with negative reviews and pulled from theaters]] after a Chinese character made a pun about "Chi-knees", which was reminiscent of the "Dirty Knees" schoolyard rhyme used by Americans to insult Chinese and Japanese immigrants. |
| 100 | * ''Film/FightClub'' had its ending entirely removed and replaced with [[AntiClimax a caption stating that the police successfully intervened and arrested everyone]]. ''Literature/FightClub'' writer Creator/ChuckPalahniuk mocked the decision, but later went on to say that it ironically was closer to the book's version of events. |
| 101 | * All of Creator/KeanuReeves' films were pulled out from Chinese-streaming sites after Chinese nationalists found out that he made a virtual appearance for a concert supporting Tibet. Despite this, ''Film/TheMatrixResurrections'' would ultimately receive a Chinese release. |
| 102 | * Every single film in [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse MCU's]] Phase Four series of films was banned in China for various reasons.[[note]] most of which relate to their increasing censorship of progressive ideas, see Video Games below[[/note]] |
| 103 | ** ''Film/BlackWidow2021'' - No official reason known. |
| 104 | ** ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings'' - For portrayal of stereotypes the CCP considers questionable. |
| 105 | ** ''Film/{{Eternals}}'' - Because it was directed by Creator/ChloeZhao, who as noted above had her work expunged in retaliation for her critical opinion of the CCP. |
| 106 | ** ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'' - Due to its resemblance to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goddess_of_Democracy the Goddess of Democracy]], China requested the removal of the Art/StatueOfLiberty from the film. Given the film's final battle takes place entirely at the Statue, Creator/SonyPictures [[https://www.cbr.com/spider-man-no-way-home-china-statue-of-liberty-sony-refuse immediately refused]], prompting a modified request that "patriotic" shots of statue be cut. Sony still refused, and the film was blackballed as a result. |
| 107 | ** ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness'' - [[https://deadline.com/2022/04/doctor-strange-multiverse-madness-china-backlash-marvel-1235013738/ Received backlash in China]] due to a scene in which a newspaper kiosk visibly bears the Chinese characters for ''The Epoch Times'', which opposes the CCP (see "Other" below for other details). |
| 108 | ** ''Film/ThorLoveAndThunder'' - No official reason known. |
| 109 | ** ''Film/BlackPantherWakandaForever'' - No official reason known. [[LateExportForYou Eventually released in February of 2023]], [[ScrewedByTheNetwork just a week before]] ''Film/AntManAndTheWaspQuantumania'', which also received a Chinese release. |
| 110 | * Between December 1st and 7th of 2022, foreign films were [[https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/12/1/n13876438.htm temporarily prohibited from being shown in Chinese theaters]]. The prohibition was probably [[DistancedFromCurrentEvents due to Jiang Zemin's death]]. |
| 111 | * While never even considered for a release in Mainland China, ''Film/WinnieThePoohBloodAndHoney'' was pulled by the distributors from a Hong Kong and Macau release at the very last minute. Some have speculated that this may be because of the censorship of the character after comparisons made with Chinese president Xi Jinping. Concerns over China's censorship and control of Hong Kong and Macau, which have already been rising, have grown even more after this. |
| 112 | [[/folder]] |
| 113 | |
| 114 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 115 | * ''Literature/ChinaTidalWave'' is banned in China as the Tiananmen Square Massacre is mentioned repeatedly, as well as a (realistic) portrayal of what would happen if China (with billions of people and a ton of nukes) became a failed state. It also depicts the fall of the CCP which they view as a huge insult. |
| 116 | * David Wingrove's ''Literature/ChungKuo'' series is banned in China for portraying a bleak Chinese future where society has degenerated to what is essentially the Warlords era; this includes methods that are downright dehumanizing, the only people left are Caucasians and Chinese (the Latinos and Indigenous Natives are exterminated to the last man, and the blacks are now on a decline), etc. |
| 117 | * ''Literature/BalzacAndTheLittleChineseSeamstress'' is a book about the Cultural Revolution, persecution of academics and the educated, and BookBurning. Since this is one of the books studied in Hong Kong international schools, there have been at least a few cases of students finding their copies unexpectedly confiscated. |
| 118 | * An aversion: contrary to what you might expect, ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' is readily available. [[note]] This should come as no surprise to people who've really read the novel; despite its theme of rebellion and seeking freedom from oppression, {{Big Brother|IsWatching}} ends up winning in the end after [[ColdBloodedTorture convincing]] the protagonist to sell his beliefs out and to stop searching for the truth. [[/note]] |
| 119 | * Jung Chang's family history ''Literature/WildSwans'', which recounts the sufferings endured by her family during the Cultural Revolution, is banned. |
| 120 | * American journalist Michael Meyer's ''The Last Days of Old Beijing'', about the three years he spent living in one of the ''hutongs'' of that city teaching English, was banned for five years, presumably for its depiction of the lives of poor residents struggling to save their historic neighborhoods from urban renewal projects spearheaded by corrupt officials for their developer friends. Apparently, though, the real reason is that [[http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2013/08/what_s_a_book_tour_like_in_china_the_author_of_a_book_on_beijing_returns.html it shows mainland China and Taiwan in different colors on a map in the frontispiece]]. Five years after publication in the U.S., the ban was lifted, and Meyer's Chinese publisher sent him on a book tour. However, by his count the Chinese edition still cut almost a page's worth of passages. "Better 400 pages of book than no book at all. In China, you take what you can get," he said. |
| 121 | * Any travel book primarily centered around Taiwan or Tibet is banned in the country, especially if it lists either as a separate country from China on the map or mentions the Dalai Lama at all. This even extends to books that are focused on China but do either country as being separate. |
| 122 | * ''Literature/GreenEggsAndHam'', believe it or not, was outlawed in 1965 because they claimed it portrayed early Marxism. The ban was lifted in 1991 and the book was released in simplified Chinese shortly afterwards. |
| 123 | * In the 1930s, pre-Communist China banned ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland''. Perceived drug references? Nope, ''{{Civilized Animal}}s''. The censors felt that presenting animals as equal to humans was a bad message to give impressionable children. |
| 124 | * You are not allowed to mention the novel ''Long Live The Emperor'' because, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N80zgzxUIE&list=PLBuns9Evn1w-5rkmBNwtfL58cx6D9irhc according to one defector]] "long live" is considered to mean "forever." And, while the current President Xi Jinping is president forever due to his removal of China's term limits on the President, nobody is allowed to talk about that fact. |
| 125 | * Chinese-American author and screenwriter Geling Yan was censored on the Chinese internet after [[https://qz.com/2127169/censors-delete-geling-yans-wechat-essay-on-chained-woman-in-china/ calling Xi Jinping a "human trafficker" in a video chat.]] |
| 126 | * Given that Maoist China was staunchly atheist, Literature/TheBible was banned, and all foreign religion is outlawed during his reign. Although the Chinese Communist Party still has an antipathy towards religion (except for Taoism), since the '90s, they have at least become somewhat tolerant of Christianity and Judaism being practiced, on the condition that they submit to the Communist Party. |
| 127 | [[/folder]] |
| 128 | |
| 129 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 130 | * After Chinese netizens compared the USSR's mishandling of the Chernobyl nuclear plant to the CCP's similar mishandling of the Corona-virus pandemic, ''Series/{{Chernobyl}}'' has been banned in China, and any discussion involving them will be immediately censored. |
| 131 | * ''Series/RuyisRoyalLoveInThePalace'' and ''Series/StoryOfYanxiPalace'' were briefly censored by the Chinese government for "failing to promote socialist values". That's right: two ''Chinese series'' were banned in China. |
| 132 | * ''Series/GoPrincessGo'' is one of the not-as-rare-as-you'd-think cases of a Chinese series that ended up getting banned in its own country. China's infamous censors refuse to allow the uncut version to be aired. The version they eventually allowed is missing more than a third of the original series. In this case the reason they banned it is obvious; the series is about a man who ends up in a woman's body and falls in love with his/her husband. It's also about TimeTravel, something the censors weren't too keen on in the early 2010s, so it's a miracle it managed to be aired at all. |
| 133 | * The last episode of the historical series ''Series/TowardsTheRepublic'' was censored, as it ends with a speech by Sun Yat-sen about the merits of democracy. It was un-banned after internet release. |
| 134 | * On ''Series/TheLateLateShow'', Creator/CraigFerguson revealed an email he had received claiming that his program's internet broadcasts were banned in China. He jokingly took this as a threat, saying "[[DoubleEntendre double entendres]] and [[VulgarHumor fart jokes]] are [[BadassBoast too threatening to the mighty Chinese regime]]," and lamented that they would therefore miss his guest for the evening, Creator/MorganFreeman. |
| 135 | * The controversial 2007 Japanese documentary about China, ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_China Gekiryu Chugoku,]]'' was banned in China. |
| 136 | * Portions of the broadcast of ''Anderson Cooper 360'' that aired from May 2, 2012 onwards on CNN International were blacked out in China when it discussed developments with political activist Chen Guangcheng, particularly when alleged threats made towards Chen and his family by the Chinese government were mentioned. |
| 137 | * As of April 2014, ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', ''Series/TheGoodWife'', ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', and ''Series/ThePractice'' have been [[http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/27/china-censor-big-bang-theory-stream-tv banned from Chinese video services]] for unspecified reasons. |
| 138 | * In January 2015, the State General Administration for Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television ordered ''Series/AgentCarter'' and ''{{Series/Empire}}'' removed from Chinese streaming sites due to a new regulation stating that a show's entire first season must be submitted to the government for review before any episodes can air. The previous regulation only required a show to be approved on an episode-by-episode basis. |
| 139 | * ''Series/DoctorWho'' was previously banned for being a show about a time traveller; as stated above under Film, the Chinese government frowns upon positive portrayals of time travel or any "inaccurate" depictions of the past. The government would not like people getting the impression that an era before Communism is preferable, especially one with a monarchy. However, in 2017, BBC Worldwide signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Chinese media company Shanghai Media Group Pictures making the revival series and its spin-offs ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' and ''Series/{{Class|2016}}'' available on the mainland, with first refusal for four series after Series 11 in the event they were commissioned. |
| 140 | * The 2021 reunion special of the American television sitcom ''Series/{{Friends}}'' was edited to remove Music/LadyGaga, Music/JustinBieber, (see the Music folder for further information) and Music/{{BTS}} (preceded by backlash from Chinese citizens after RM endorsed the alliance between the United States and South Korea during The Korean War, and the fact that China and North Korea have great relations with each other) when streamed on Chinese video websites. |
| 141 | * Many western dramas and {{Toku}} series were taken down in 2017 allegedly due to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. It would seem a ban is now in place. |
| 142 | * ''Series/LastWeekTonightWithJohnOliver'' was banned on Chinese social media after it showed a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OubM8bD9kck segment]] that is critical of President Xi Jinping. |
| 143 | * In September 2021, ''Series/UltramanTiga'' along with a bunch of anime were taken down from all video platforms without explanation. No one knows why they did this, especially since the ''Franchise/UltraSeries'' has more violent and darker shows than ''Tiga'' that are still up. However, ''Tiga'' is the most popular ''Ultra'' show in China with the younger generation, Some have [[MakeAnExampleOfThem theorized it may have been done to send a message that the CCP could ban anything if it wanted too.]] If that is the case, it backfired because the backlash was immense, and ''Tiga'' was shortly put back up although missing some episodes. |
| 144 | [[/folder]] |
| 145 | |
| 146 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 147 | * Until mid-2016, Music/LadyGaga was one of the best-received Western pop stars in China. Her music was then banned after she posted pictures of her meeting the Dalai Lama on Instagram, and even both having an interview. Not just that, but [[https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6750911/Chinese-TV-station-cuts-appearances-Lady-Gaga-Oscars-ceremony.html the 2019 Oscars Awards were censored in China by having her face blurred]]! |
| 148 | * The Music/GunsNRoses album ''Music/ChineseDemocracy'' was not only banned for the title alone, but also because of mentions of the Falun Gong, a new religious movement in China that the Chinese government excludes from the media. |
| 149 | * The littlest things rile up the censors, apparently. The Music/PetShopBoys album ''Yes'' was almost banned over the final track "Legacy", due to this verse: "Time will pass/''governments fall''/Glaciers melt/Hurricanes bawl" (emphasis added). Both parties allowed its release on the condition that the song be left as an instrumental. |
| 150 | * The Chinese government occasionally attempts to ban, water down or censor Chinese things. China-based Visual Kei/gothic rock band Silver Ash, for example, have over the years come up against several tricky bits of legislation. One of them briefly forced them out of rock altogether, causing them to go on a lengthy hiatus. |
| 151 | * Rather confusingly, one of the most popular rock bands in China, Miserable Faith, is famous for its songs about freedom and suppression, but it’s ''not'' banned. In fact, they still attend most of the rock festivals in China and "spread freedom". |
| 152 | * Music/MileyCyrus is banned in China because she pulled a slant-eyed face in a hacked smartphone photo, a gesture that can commonly be interpreted as mocking Asians. |
| 153 | * Music/{{Rihanna}} isn't banned in China, but some of her music videos such as "[=S&M=]" and "Bitch Better Have My Money" are banned for very obvious reasons. |
| 154 | * Music/{{Bjork}} was deported and had her music banned from the country after her performance of the song "Declare Independence", where she began to chant "Tibet! Tibet!". While she wasn't banned off-the-bat, her attempts to argue against the government's decision was what led her music to a ban. |
| 155 | * When Music/{{The Rolling Stones|Band}} played China as part of a world tour, they were specifically told by the government some of their songs were forbidden, such as "Brown Sugar", which was about an interracial sexual hook-up. |
| 156 | * Music/{{Kraftwerk}} is apparently not allowed to perform in Beijing for their commitment to perform in a Free Tibet concert (which was canceled due to bad weather). |
| 157 | * Back in the 1960s, China banned its own NationalAnthem for a time. This occurred when the guy who wrote it was declared an enemy of the state during the UsefulNotes/CulturalRevolution. During those years, it was unofficially replaced by "The East Is Red", which glorified Mao's CultOfPersonality. |
| 158 | * Music/JustinBieber has been banned from performing or visiting China due to his reckless behavior when visiting the Great Wall in 2013 and his arrests for [=DUIs=]. |
| 159 | * Starting in late 2016, China banned KoreanPopMusic and all forms of Korean entertainment [[https://www.vox.com/latest-news/2017/3/3/14795636/china-south-korea-pop-culture-kpop-attacks-thaad due to South Korea's missile agreement with the US]] known as the THAAD system. The ban has been lifted since then. |
| 160 | * After gaining widespread popularity thanks to the success of the Chinese rap reality show, ''The Rap of China'' in 2017, the Chinese government started clamping down on HipHop the following year. |
| 161 | * Music/{{Zedd}} was banned in China after liking a ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' tweet mocking China for banning the show. He even admitted this in [[https://mobile.twitter.com/Zedd/status/1182376966495838208 his own tweet]] (see the Western Animation folder for the tweet in question). |
| 162 | * The infamous Malaysian Chinese singer, Namewee, was banned in China after the song "Fragile", which lampoons the country and its population, was released. A few years later, Namewee made a Chinese New Year song named "People of the Dragon", which is another jab at China, and Chinese internet users were [[https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2024/02/16/users-catch-lifetime-bans-over-namewee-tune permanently banned]] on Douyin, China’s equivalent of Platform/{{TikTok}}, for sharing the song without realizing what the song is actually about. |
| 163 | * [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mo_Li_Hua Mo Li Hua]], a popular Chinese folk song, was banned after it became associated with the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Chinese_pro-democracy_protests 2011 Jasmine Revolution protests]]. |
| 164 | [[/folder]] |
| 165 | |
| 166 | [[folder:Software]] |
| 167 | * Microsoft has a list of "banned words" that are discouraged in its speech recognition. "Tibet" is one of them due to strong Chinese sales. |
| 168 | * The Chinese government [[http://www.pcworld.com/article/2157220/china-bans-government-purchases-of-windows-8-surprising-microsoft.html banned the purchase of Windows 8]] from internal use in retaliation of Microsoft's end of support for Windows XP. |
| 169 | * The Chinese-language version of [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows Windows 95]] was halted after users discovered references to anti-Communist slogans such as "Communist bandits" or "reclaim the mainland" in programs furnished by Taiwanese contractors, both of which were used by the Taipei government[[note]]"Communist bandits" was an insult used to describe the PRC leadership as DirtyCommunists, while "reclaim the mainland" meant "take back Mainland China from the Commies". These two, especially the former, would trigger PRC or any sympathizer a ''BerserkButton''[[/note]]. A later [[ObviousRulePatch patch]] was made to remove the offending terms from the input system. |
| 170 | [[/folder]] |
| 171 | |
| 172 | [[folder:Sports]] |
| 173 | * The [[UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation NBA]]: |
| 174 | ** In October 2019, Tencent, the Chinese broadcasters of the NBA, temporarily suspended their involvement with the league after the general manager of the Houston Rockets made a Twitter post in support of the Hong Kong protests. |
| 175 | ** Two years later to the month, Tencent stopped airing Boston Celtics games after Celtics player Enes Kanter[[labelnote:*]]who became Enes Kanter Freedom after becoming a US citizen in late November 2021[[/labelnote]] publicly expressed his support for Tibetan independence, also pointedly criticizing current Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Kanter doubled down by releasing another video criticizing China's treatment of Uyghurs, also accusing Muslim leaders of abandoning their co-religionists. |
| 176 | [[/folder]] |
| 177 | |
| 178 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 179 | * China used to ban depictions of demons and human skeletons, so many ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' cards had their art altered for release there, and many others were simply not released in China. None of the Chinese finalists during this period made it far in the Pro Tour finals because they simply didn't know how to play with the full collection of cards. The ban was lifted in 2008. |
| 180 | * Chinese authorities [[https://qz.com/989559/deepmind-alphago-vs-ke-jie-googles-ai-summit-and-go-tournament-is-banned-from-live-broadcast-in-china/ banned]] all live accounts and broadcasts of Ke Jie's TabletopGame/{{Go}} matches against a computer system developed by Website/{{Google}} -- likely in retaliation for its past demonization of the company and its services in the country, and possibly under the belief that [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard a top player losing to a machine would be an insult to Chinese culture]]. |
| 181 | * The Creator/{{CatalystGameLabs}} Pre-Dreadnought Steampunk airship-naval game ''Leviathans'' fell victim to this when customs inspectors impounded the rulebook for having maps that showed Japanese occupation zones in the country and Taiwan and Hong Kong in different map colors than the mainland. |
| 182 | [[/folder]] |
| 183 | |
| 184 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 185 | * The opera ''Theatre/{{Turandot}}'' was banned for many years for depicting Chinese (read: unintelligible Eastern) culture unfavorably. The ban was repealed in the late 1990s, and the opera has been since been performed on a Chinese stage on at least one occasion. There is a particularly good DVD of it being performed in the Forbidden City with a large Chinese ensemble, suggesting that they have thoroughly gotten over the ban. |
| 186 | * Downplayed with ''Theatre/MichaelJacksonTheIMMORTALWorldTour'', a Creator/CirqueDuSoleil tour. At the first performance in China in 2013, [[http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/15/world/asia/tank-man-cirque-soleil/index.html the audience was shocked]] to see the famous image of the Tiananmen Square "Tank Man" during the "They Don't Care About Us" video montage, even though the show was prescreened by the country's Ministry of Culture. The image was cut for subsequent performances in the country. |
| 187 | * The ''Shen Yun Performing Arts'' is banned in China, as they are operated by the Falun Gong, a banned and persecuted religious movement. The ban isn't limited to China, the Chinese government attempted to enforce their bans outside of China by pressuring other countries, such as Ecuador, Ireland, Germany, Sweden, and (starting in October 2023) Korea into banning Shen Yun entry into theaters. |
| 188 | [[/folder]] |
| 189 | |
| 190 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 191 | Due to the large amount of video game piracy in China, many video games are never officially released or localized in China, and translations of such games often fall to the hands of fan translation groups. With the rise of online digital distribution platforms such as Platform/{{Steam}}, many of the supposedly banned video games can be bought in China, though roadblocks continue to exist in the form of internet censorship and specialized video game regulation. |
| 192 | * Between 2000 and 2013, China banned ''all'' video game consoles, largely because the government had very little control over what was released on them. Then Creator/{{Nintendo}} made the iQue Player (a plug-and-play variant of the Platform/Nintendo64) specifically for the Chinese market, and that allowed China to ease into allowing importation of video games and consoles again, just with strict regulation of the type of game that can be imported. |
| 193 | * ''[[Franchise/WinnieThePooh Winnie the Pooh's]]'' Chinese name "小熊维尼" were [[https://boundingintocomics.com/2019/03/20/report-winnie-the-pooh-censored-in-world-of-warcraft-pubg-and-arena-of-valor-in-china/ banned]] in video games such of ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', ''VideoGame/PlayerUnknownsBattlegrounds'', ''VideoGame/ArenaOfValor'' and ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' (see "Western Animation" below for other details), and can result in instaban if typed on chat. However, as a side effect of this, some players using this advantage to troll peoples by forcing them to type the Pooh Bear word just for fun and troll purpose only, without knowing that the autoban was enforced by "law". [[labelnote:For example]]When someone else in chat on ''Overwatch'' asks you an question, "Who's Tigger's best friend?" and you then replied, "Winnie-the-Pooh?" and then you're instabanned[[/labelnote]] |
| 194 | * Promotional screenshots of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' have blurred the Pooh Bear in white at [[https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_original/y4lcno7rbz2jdyvmn8at.jpg one Weibo post coverage of the game]]. However, Pooh Bear wasn't actually censored in the same way in-game. |
| 195 | * ''VideoGame/{{Devotion}}'' by Red Candle Games was banned because of a placeholder image found in the game that referenced Chinese president Xi Jinping, comparing him to Winnie the Pooh. The game was released on Steam in February 2019, and when nationalistic Chinese netizens found out about the placeholder art they began review-bombing ''Devotion'', and later on made claims that other references found in the game -as well as the whole plot- were actually expressions of anti-mainland China sentiment by the game's Taiwanese developers and that they were mocking that same Chinese audience that liked their previous title ''VideoGame/{{Detention}}''. The situation snowballed to the point that Red Candle were forced to remove the game from Steam, remove almost any mentions of it from their official site, and the game's Chinese publisher had its license revoked. In July 2019 Red Candle posted on their social media an official apology which said that ''Devotion'' wouldn't be re-released on Steam "in the near future", implying that the game is now dead and buried. On March 15th, 2021, they finally cut out the middle man and [[https://twitter.com/redcandlegames/status/1371335941542060032 launched their own storefront]] to sell the game on, but the game's re-release from Red Candle Games' own storefront is completely region-locked from China. And if a Chinese user tries to play the game, it will only prompt a [[https://i.imgur.com/V1YvFes.png Chinese warning message]] that the game is prohibited by law. |
| 196 | * ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}} Immortal'' by Creator/BlizzardEntertainment had its release delayed when Blizzard's official Weibo account made a rather unprofessional comment about why a bear hadn't stepped down yet. While the Weibo direct translation only referred to 'bear', a redditor translation interpreted it as directly referring to Winnie the Pooh. It's not known if it's the ban would be permanent or how long the ban would last, however. |
| 197 | * While the original ''VideoGame/ProjectIGI'' isn't banned, the sequel, ''I.G.I.-2: Covert Strike'', is, roughly six months after release [[note]]the original copy passed censor inspection due to being incomplete and lacking the last six levels with China-involved content [[/note]] due to revelation that the game's main villain, General Wu Xing, is a rogue Chinese official in league with Russian terrorists behind the theft of a superweapon, intending to overthrow the "weak" Chinese government and starting a war with the west. Despite the game stating that Wu Xing is a ''rogue'' official and the actual Chinese government isn't actually involved, it was still pulled from Chinese markets due to "tarnishing their military's image". |
| 198 | * ''VideoGame/{{Terranigma}}'' is banned for its positive depiction of the Dalai Lama (Lord Kumari). |
| 199 | * China banned the strategy game ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIron'' and its sequels for depicting China as a fragmented nation split into various warlord factions in the main campaign, which begins on New Year's Day 1936. Also, Tibet is depicted as an independent state under the rule of the Lamas. The Chinese censors did approve a GameMod which features a unified China. |
| 200 | * Many historical based strategy games such as ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpires'', ''VideoGame/TotalWar'', and ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'' will often avoid having civilizations such as the Tibetans or the Uighurs as playable factions mainly to avoid this trope. In particular, both the developers of ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresII'' (Ensemble Studios) and the revival expansion ''The Forgotten'' (Forgotten Empires) have stated that they considered the Tibetans as a faction in the past, but have not given an official explanation to why they were never included. Skybox Labs, which helped developed the SpinOff ''VideoGame/AgeOfMythology'' did say that they would not include Tibetans for fear of losing the Chinese market, where the franchise [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff is relatively popular]]. The fact that dead soldiers no longer decay into skeletons in the ''Definitive Edition'' remakes of both ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpires'' and ''II'' doesn't have an official explanation either, but many fans are certain that it is due to concerns about breaking Chinese cultural taboos against the depiction of human bones. |
| 201 | * The Chinese versions of ''Civilization IV'' replaced Mao Zedong with Tang Taizong as one of the leaders of China due to political sensitivities. |
| 202 | * Some ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'' games have been banned in China, which doesn't stop them from being some of the most played and modded games there: |
| 203 | ** ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals -- Zero Hour'' was banned for allegedly smearing the image of China and its military, despite being shown as a heroic (but brutal, oppressive, and make liberal use of nukes and napalm to obliterate anything) faction aside from the USA. This may have to do with the depiction of a GLA nuclear attack in Tiananmen Square in the beginning of the Chinese Campaign in the original game as well as in a 3rd Chinese Mission (in the same game) where the objective is to destroy the Three-Gorges Dam to drown the GLA (along with the innocent civilians in it) which hits close home in Mainland China. And how players can play foreign factions against the game's depiction of Chinese military. |
| 204 | ** Some copies of ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2'' has its campaign cutscenes abridged, though the in-game voices remains without subtitle. However it is later revealed that only pirated version had this effect, due to the necessity of compressing the game into one disc. |
| 205 | ** ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'' is banned in China yet rather popular there. This may be because China wasn’t big on either the Soviet Union during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar or Japan in [[UsefulNotes/FirstSinoJapaneseWar various]] [[UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar other]] [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII conflicts]]. |
| 206 | * ''People's General'', a sequel to SSI's ''VideoGame/PanzerGeneral'', was never officially released in China due to its ChinaTakesOverTheWorld campaign, where Chinese force invade Russia and Taiwan, drawing the USA into WorldWarIII. |
| 207 | * The third entry of Creator/{{Koei|Tecmo}}'s ''P.T.O.'' wargame franchise was never officially released outside of Japan. An attempt at a Chinese translation was cancelled after Chinese localization staff quit in protest due to the game's ability to play as Japanese forces in the UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar, a highly sensitive topic in China. As a result, the fourth entry of the franchise removed all battles set in China. |
| 208 | * ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield 4}}'' is a weird situation. Many news reports in China reported that the game has been banned for allegedly discrediting China's national image and presenting a threat to national security as a "cultural invasion", and many sites in China banned "Battlefield 4" as a keyword. [[SubvertedTrope However, the game is very much completely playable in China since day 1]]. Sale of the game on retail platforms is prohibited, but Origin can still be downloaded without use of VPN and [=BF4=] can be purchased and downloaded through it. With the censorship ban being lifted a few years later, the game now feels like it's not even remotely banned in China. |
| 209 | * In October 2019, Creator/BlizzardEntertainment provoked [[https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/10/09/activision-blizzard-hong-kong-china-boycott-blizzard-response boycott calls]], after it handed professional Hearthstone player Ng Wai Chung a 12-month suspension for "violating official competition rules", which some critics speculated as politically driven due to Chung's vocal support UsefulNotes/HongKong protests[[note]]Blizzard argued that Chung broke his contract by voicing support of a political issue during an official livestream[[/note]]. Though Blizzard likely didn't take direct orders from the Great Firewall, it's been widely seen as pandering to the lucrative mainland Chinese market. Many on the web have teamed up in an attempt to ''[[InvokedTrope invoke]]'' this trope by painting the Chinese ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' character Mei as a pro-Hong Kong symbol in order to get the game banned. While Blizzard ultimately relented in Chung's case, reducing his suspension to 6 months and releasing to him the cash prize from the tournament which they had originally confiscated, this invocation of the trope had little effect otherwise, as ''Overwatch'' still contains numerous China-based eSports teams. |
| 210 | * ''Videogame/PlagueInc'' was removed from all app stores and Steam in the Chinese market, after a few weeks of massive increases in the playerbase, both thanks to the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic that originated within the country. |
| 211 | * Imports and livestreams of ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewHorizons'' was banned after Hong Kong protesters figured out they could use the in-game content creation and sharing system to criticise the government and spread their views uncensored. Though officially, the reason the government gave was the character of Wisp the ''ghost''. |
| 212 | * In June of 2020, ''VideoGame/SuperMarioMaker2'' was suddenly taken down from Chinese e-commerce websites for unknown reasons. However, as was [[https://www.hk01.com/%E6%95%B8%E7%A2%BC%E7%94%9F%E6%B4%BB/486088/super-mario-maker-2-%E6%B6%89%E8%BE%B1%E8%8F%AF%E5%85%A8%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B%E4%B8%8B%E6%9E%B6-%E5%8F%88%E5%9B%A0%E8%87%AA%E7%94%B1%E7%8E%A9%E6%B3%95%E6%83%B9%E5%87%BA%E7%A6%8D reported]] across Chinese language media, it was alleged that the ban was due to user-made levels full of mockery and satires of the Chinese government. However, this was unknown to non-Chinese viewers until the [=YouTube=] channel "Censored Gaming" [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2ItyPVtLjI covered it.]] |
| 213 | * The two cases above caused some great concern with [[GameMod game modding]] community in China, fearing that subsequently any created digital content will require approval by the state to publish (as to prevent spreading of dissent) and the Steam Workshop hosts a lot of Chinese modders. |
| 214 | * In late 2017, the community section of Steam (including reviews, discussions, and Workshop) was banned in China, though a lot of users had managed to work around it via VPN. In early 2021, a specially curated version of Steam launched in China under the server and local publisher Perfect World Entertainment, and as of Christmas later that year the international Steam website as a whole became difficult to access in the country. Global Steam has not been officially banned, but it remains in a "partially blocked" legal and technological grey area. The Steam client is also still available for Chinese users to access, though external tools like game boosters are required to efficiently play games through it. |
| 215 | * In many stores (for example, Windows Store and Xbox Live), publishers need to have a special license from the Chinese government to be allowed to publish games in China. Without this license, people get a message of "your game was approved for the store, but it's not allowed in China." |
| 216 | * Not a full ban, but any domestic games that featured Creator/AiKayano in their voice cast (notably ''Videogame/{{Arknights}}'', ''Videogame/AzurLane'', and ''Videogame/GirlsFrontline'') in it were forced (by pressure from nationalists) to [[RoleEndingMisdemeanor remove her voice work and]] [[TheOtherDarrin recast her characters]] after she tweeted about "nice air" in Yasukuni Shrine (which reveres soldiers who fought for Japan, including Imperial Japanese soldiers who committed atrocities such as Nanking and Unit 731) in February 2021. |
| 217 | * RhythmGame musician Creator/{{Ice|loki}} is PersonaNonGrata in China due to having produced [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_64P-d497oQ a song]] with a hidden "Free Hong Kong" message in Morse code. As a result, Ice received a lot of backlash from rhythm game players in mainland China and Chinese developers and publishers of rhythm games refuse to carry his songs (e.g. if those songs would otherwise be part of a collaboration with another rhythm game, as well as Chinese localizations of foreign-made rhythm games): |
| 218 | ** ''VideoGame/CytusII'' was briefly pulled from Chinese app markets in July 2020, as the game carried some of his songs. The game would later be put back up in China, but with some of his songs removed, and [[RoleEndingMisdemeanor Ice resigned from Rayark in order to take the heat off of them]]. |
| 219 | ** When the ''VideoGame/{{Cytus}}'' (including ''Cytus II'') collaboration was brought over to the Chinese localization of ''VideoGame/{{maimai}}'', Ice's songs were excluded. |
| 220 | * Due to China's increasingly strict censorship of progressive values in 2021, even going so far as to censor anything that depicts men as not being masculine enough in extension to the LGBT ban, approval of both foreign and domestic video games is frozen in mid-2021 and continues to be so in early 2022. |
| 221 | * Although ''Franchise/OnePiece: Fighting Path'' wasn't banned, Blackbeard was made TheVoiceless in this game, seemingly due to his voice actor Creator/AkioOtsuka [[https://www.piewan.com/wenda/435686.html "offending Chinese people."]] The actual reason is still unknown as of this day. |
| 222 | * While not a case of being outright banned, the creators of card-collecting game'' VideoGame/EnsembleStars'', Creator/HappyElements, had an incident when they were talking about an in-game event on Weibo. In the post, they had to mention one of the characters, Takamine Midori(高峯 翠). However, the kanji of his name (specifically the 'Midori' part) includes 翠. In Chinese, the character could be interpreted as 'Xi (UsefulNotes/XiJinping, the current president of the People's Republic of China) dies twice', and so it is banned on Weibo. Creator/HappyElements evades this by using the romaji (Midori) instead of the character, but the end result of '高峯 Midori' instead of '高峯 翠' certainly piqued the interest of the Chinese netizens, especially since Midori's name is the only one to get this treatment. Surprisingly, the same kanji was not censored in the pictures included in the post. |
| 223 | [[/folder]] |
| 224 | |
| 225 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 226 | * Chinese Internet censorship is famous for its "Great Firewall", which filters all traffic through the country and blocks "subversive" or "objectionable" sites. Of course, the Chinese tend to have a workaround for this (something that the government will not take kindly to if they do decide to jump over said "Firewall"). |
| 227 | ** Part of the problem is ostensibly easy transfer of information; social networking sites like Facebook have been used to coordinate protests and political action the government doesn't like. But there are Chinese social networking sites, search engines, and video sharing sites, which presumably have an easier time monitoring their users and blocking sensitive content. |
| 228 | ** Blocked sites of note include Website/{{Google}}'s Blogspot, [=Flickr=], Website/{{Twitter}}, Website/{{Facebook}}, Website/{{DeviantArt}}[[note]]It was unblocked from 2016 to 2018[[/note]], and Website/{{Tumblr}}. Western news sites such as [[Creator/TheBBC BBC News]], CNN, and the New York Times are also banned. Most video sharing sites are also blocked, including Website/{{YouTube}}, although everything other than the video servers is unblocked on certain college campuses. Website/FourChan and Vic George's Imaginarium (the home of ''Fanfic/EmpathTheLuckiestSmurf'' fanfic) is ''not'' blocked; make of that what you will. |
| 229 | ** One way to circumvent the ban is to go through a Hong Kong search engine, including Hong Kong's versions of Google or Yahoo search, which you can probably access through a Chinese hotel's Internet connection. Hong Kong is not affected by the Great Firewall, but their sites might have terms of service prohibiting access to certain content from certain regions -- which you can bypass by registering a US account and changing the browser's region. |
| 230 | * In July 2009, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology encouraged computer manufacturers to include a censoring software called "Green Dam Youth Escort", either pre-installed or on CD, with every computer sold in China. The idea was to help "build a healthy and [[MemeticMutation harmonious]] online environment that does not poison young people's minds." Of course, it was plagued by the ScunthorpeProblem in its poorly-written pornography filter (which was so sensitive that it even blocked pictures of ComicStrip/{{Garfield}} and pigs, as they have large area of skin tones, and thus appear to be pornography), a password system that was so broken that it could be "cracked by elementary school students," and alleged plagiarism of blacklists and open source code from other software. The Internet being what it is, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Green_dam3.jpg Green Dam]] was also not immune to MoeAnthropomorphism; she even has her very own {{doujinshi}} game. |
| 231 | * Website/{{Wikipedia}} [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blocking_of_Wikipedia_in_mainland_China alternates]] between full ban and ban of topics such as Taiwan and the Tiananmen Square Massacre. It's been more or less un-banned in English in 2013, but Chinese-language Wikipedias are completely blocked outside of some universities, which charge students for access. As of 23 April 2019, all versions of Wikipedia were blocked in China. |
| 232 | * On January 7th, 2016, Creator/{{Netflix}} made a surprise announcement that they have become available globally, and only four countries remaining can't get them. Three of the countries (Syria, Crimea, and North Korea) remained blocked due to US embargoes. The fourth is China, although Netflix is working on it. |
| 233 | * Starting in September 2018, Platform/{{Twitch}} is blocked in China. |
| 234 | * Discussed by Creator/BobChipman in his video about ''WesternAnimation/{{Onward}}''[='=]s lesbian character. He says that it's inaccurate to blame China for American movies having only token-level LGBT representation. China actually has a long history of queer characters and the background lesbian kiss in ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'' was actually left in the Chinese release without any controversy. He also says that while China has rules about what can be put in movies, they tend to enforce those rules arbitrarily and be more lenient towards Chinese films than foreign ones. This gives them more leverage at the negotiation table. |
| 235 | * Chinese video streaming website Bilibili have their rules called "[[http://member.bilibili.com/studio/creative-treaty/q0 Creative Treaty]]" for its users. [[note]]Not only you must comply the laws and rules of China there, (since Billibilli is a Chinese website based in China) but you must not oppose (or mocking, making fun of) the "one country, two systems" policy, which refers to China's control of Hong Kong and Macau[[/note]] This even include the NoSwastikas rules regarding the swastikas being used as Nazi symbols, and a rule that forbids mature videos that can [[MisaimedFandom attract young kids and peoples.]] It even [[https://imgur.com/6Ym6NOP includes]] an image of creepypasta version of ''WesternAnimation/PeppaPig'' character as an example. |
| 236 | * VirtualYouTuber agency WebAnimation/{{hololive}} is considered a hot button topic for China to the point that mentions of them are censored and vilified. |
| 237 | ** In September 2020, Haato Akai and Coco Kiryu, two [[VirtualCelebrity Virtual YouTubers]] signed onto the aforemented talent agency, had their Bilibili channels banned due to mentions of Taiwan in [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Hololive/comments/iyyg9i/haachama_s_bilibili_channel_get_banned_by_chinese/ their]] [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Hololive/comments/iz64uz/coco_also_banned_on_bilibili_following_the_word/ streams]]. [[note]]Haato let the mention of the country slip when she was checking what regions her viewers were from and saw Taiwan had her third highest percentage of viewers came from on the platform, resulting in angry Chinese viewers and her channel being banned. A few hours later, Coco also said Taiwan in a segment of Asacoco, as she was doing the same thing for her Youtube analytics.[[/note]] Mounting toxicity on their [=YouTube=] streams over the next few days eventually led to both Haato and Coco getting suspended for 3 weeks from 28 September 2020. The continued vitriol against hololive in China led to [[https://www.reddit.com/r/VirtualYoutubers/comments/jfxtt9/civia_talked_about_the_future_of_holocn/ the dissolution of the CN branch]] with the Chinese talents "graduating" (i.e. retiring). The effects of this incident were long-lasting, with hololive as a whole losing at least one business opportunity[[note]]A deal by Asus to have Fubuki promote their hardware on her channel was suddenly revoked after a Chinese Asus community manager warned the company about Coco[[/note]] by 2021 because of it, and the company maintained a collab ban for Coco when it came to fellow JP branch talents, as well as a full-on interaction ban when it came to talents of the just-introduced English branch, so the Chinese bots that harassed her on a daily basis didn't end up on other channels' chats, with these bans being fully lifted by Spring 2021. |
| 238 | ** Taken to an extreme level to where because Cover is considered PersonaNonGrata in China nowadays, any cameo any hololive member makes on any media is edited out when streamed on Billibilli, examples being Fubuki and Matsuri's cameos in ''Literature/TheDetectiveIsAlreadyDead'' and the ED of ''Manga/TheGreatJahyWillNotBeDefeated'' which is sung by Nene, Aqua and Subaru. |
| 239 | ** [[https://2021.overidea.jp/ 2021]] marked the first iteration of the "[=VTubers=] Have NO BORDERS!" music festival (which started in 2019, and also ran in 2020) without any representatives from either hololive or holostars (wheras [[https://www.overidea.jp/lunar2019 2019]] had the former, and [[https://2020.overidea.jp/ 2020]] had both). This is due to [=BiliBili=] being one of the major organizers for the event, and as mentioned above, hololive and holostars are considered PersonaNonGrata as far as [=BiliBili=] - organized or sponsored events are concerned. |
| 240 | ** Almost every instance of hololive screentime in WebAnimation/KizunaAi's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTa2HxIsBPM "The Last Live - hello world 2022"]] stream was edited out of [=BiliBili=]'s simulcast, save for wide angle crowd shots where hololive's members were barely noticeable. |
| 241 | * A few months after the aforementioned Taiwan-related hololive ban, bilibili put out [[https://www.reddit.com/r/VirtualYoutubers/comments/n0i4ie/updated_cnbilibili_rules_for_vtuber_avatars_a/ a slew of new website rules]] directed against {{Virtual YouTuber}}s, running the gamut from anything TooHotForTV on just about any other website to one humorously specific clause against the UsefulNotes/FurryFandom. Considering how vague a lot of the new rules are, the intent is likely to simply ban virtual streamers in general to prevent "dissent", as mentioning hololive at all continues to be a taboo subject on the website. |
| 242 | * VirtualYouTuber WebVideo/KsonOnAir is considered Persona Non Grata in China, as well to any agency with a large presence on [=BiliBili=], due to an incident in September 2020, while working under her previous corporate character at the time, where Taiwan was shown in her channel analytics. This led to the [=BiliBili=] account of [=KSon's=] corporate character, as well as the [=BiliBili=] account of one of her colleagues at the time (who had also accidentally shown off Taiwan in her channel analytics the night prior), being banned, and her employer eventually making their complete exit from the Chinese market later that year (which included the closure of their Chinese branch as well the graduation of its talents) as a result of pro-CCP nationalist toxicity being hurled not only at the agency but also its Japanese branch talents. The Persona Non Grata status stuck with [=KSon=] even after she had graduated from her previous employer in July 2021 and signed up with American agency WebVideo/VShojo as herself exactly one year later, as when she was announced as a guest for a major livestream by video game publisher PLAYISM taking place in September 2021, she was un-invited at the last minute by pressure from the publisher's Chinese branch who were warned about said previous corporate character, and the resultant mess from this led to the entire livestream getting canned.[[labelnote:*]]And if your mind is starting to connect some dots by just reading this page from the top all the way down to this sentence, just keep the OpenSecret to yourself, okay?[[/labelnote]] |
| 243 | * Videos of Creator/YuanTengFei are banned on Chinese video sites due to his coverage and views on certain touchy Chinese history topics, although they are still available on Youtube and other sites. Curiously, his books are still permitted. |
| 244 | * Chinese blogger Sun Xiaochuan was banned from Chinese streaming websites in 2018 (until his later resurgence in billibilli) for playing a song requested by one of his subscribers on his Douyu channel. The song turned out to be the music of the Falun Gong, a new religious movement in China (founded by Li Hongzhi), which is outlawed on the Chinese mainland. |
| 245 | * There's the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdVFIFnDcrU song]] dedicated to the Chinese censorship and its forbidden topics such of UsefulNotes/{{Tibet}}, the Uyghurs living in China, UsefulNotes/HongKong and its 2019 protests, Chinese controversies about UsefulNotes/{{Taiwan}}, taking jabs on Chinese president Xi Jinping and his supposedly resemblance to Franchise/WinnieThePooh (and as well as its ban, see Western Animation folder below), and etc. It is illegal to show this video in China, and it was banned from uploading in Chinese video streaming websites. |
| 246 | [[/folder]] |
| 247 | |
| 248 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 249 | * China doesn't like non-Chinese animation set in or depicting China. The exceptions: |
| 250 | ** ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'' saw a limited release, in spite of predictions that it would be banned in retaliation for Disney financing ''Film/{{Kundun}}'' as stated up above. It even had Creator/JackieChan as the voice of Li Shang. |
| 251 | ** ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda1'' saw release to great critical acclaim in China, which led the Chinese to wonder why they couldn't have made a movie like that themselves. (The main reason for that is that traditional Confucian values are so strict in terms of avoiding conflict, especially with one's elders, that many of the driving conflicts in the film would be unacceptable in China.) The Chinese fixed this by co-producing ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda3''. |
| 252 | ** ''WesternAnimation/SagwaTheChineseSiameseCat'' was dubbed and aired by [=CCTV=] with no problem. |
| 253 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': |
| 254 | ** The episode [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS16E12GooGooGaiPan "Goo Goo Gai Pan"]], where the Simpsons family visits China, is banned in the country for many reasons, but particularly because of its unfavorable reference to UsefulNotes/MaoZedong (Homer sees his body displayed [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausoleum_of_Mao_Zedong in a mausoleum]] and says, "He's like a little angel who killed 50 million people."), scenes parodying the Tiananmen Square Massacre, and a Chinese government official who says, "Well, Tibet used to be pretty independent." This episode is also unavailable in the Hong Kong version of Creator/DisneyPlus. |
| 255 | ** Another episode, "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS34E2OneAngryLisa One Angry Lisa]]", was also [[https://www.businessinsider.com/disney-remove-simpsons-episode-china-forced-labor-camps-hong-kong-2023-2 not available]] in the Hong Kong version of Disney+ due to one character mentioning forced labor camps in China where children make smartphones. This could have been corrected by editing out the offending line, but still... |
| 256 | * ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'' has at least a temporary ban due to "[[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-27/netflix-s-bojack-horseman-pulled-off-china-site-after-two-days-j4fih2jd adjustments need[ing] to be made to the content]]". |
| 257 | * {{Subverted}} with ''WesternAnimation/PeppaPig''. Douyin, the Chinese edition of Tik Tok, banned mature videos featuring Peppa Pig, not wanting to endorse [[MemeticPsychopath a popular gangster interpretation of her]], [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids especially to child audiences]]. However, original displays of ''Peppa Pig'' were not banned, considering [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff the show's big popularity in China]], despite claims to the contrary. |
| 258 | * Online references to ''Franchise/WinnieThePooh'' are often blocked because of a running joke about how President Xi Jinping resembles Pooh. However, this often gets misinterpreted as that Winnie the Pooh itself is banned in China, which is not the case, as a Winnie the Pooh [[https://www.shanghaidisneyresort.com/en/attractions/adventures-winnie-pooh/ ride]] exists in Shanghai Disneyland, and using Pooh in ordinary contexts (i.e. non-political contexts with president Xi) is still allowed.[[note]]It was even still allowed on [[https://twitter.com/MrJerryGoode/status/1368226365615476737 one occasion at a building in China]].[[/note]] |
| 259 | * While ''WesternAnimation/BikerMiceFromMars'' is not necessarily banned in China, [[https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7920537/University-Minnesota-student-jailed-China-tweeting-pictures-cartoon-villain.html a University of Minnesota student got into trouble]] for tweeting images of the BigBad of the cartoon, Lawrence Limburger, who supposedly bears a resemblance to Chinese president Xi Jinping. |
| 260 | * Neither ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' nor ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' has ever been released in China. This is likely due to the Airbenders being allegorical to the oppression of Tibet and the Earth Kingdom (at least in the first series) being allegorical to China in an ancient sense as well to its modern police state. ''Korra'' deals more with the politics /democratization of the world [[note]] One of the characters, Suyin, is an avowed republican and the Earth Queen straight-up gets murdered in the third season by a group of BombThrowingAnarchists. There's no way the Chinese government would allow a show with their fantastical equivalent's leader getting brutually murdered past the censors. [[/note]] which is also a sticking point. The movie also was never given a Chinese release. This is part of why it’s assumed that the upcoming adaptation is going to be a TV show on Creator/{{Netflix}} rather than another movie because with the budget it’d take to do a movie properly, it’d have to come out in China to make its money back. |
| 261 | * To the shock of exactly nobody, ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' was scrubbed from the Chinese internet after the episode appropriately titled [[Recap/SouthParkS23E2BandInChina "Band in China"]] aired. The episode in question, fittingly enough, was a critique of Hollywood for watering down their films to placate the Chinese government and featured jabs at the Franchise/WinnieThePooh ban,[[note]]Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet are put in a Chinese prison after being compared to Xi Jinping, and Randy, at the request of the Chinese government, decides to kill Pooh[[/note]] Chinese work camps, and the country's organ harvesting. Creator/TreyParkerAndMattStone's response [[https://twitter.com/southpark/status/1181273539799736320?s=21 was about what one would expect.]] |
| 262 | -->''"Like the NBA, we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts. We too love money more than freedom and democracy. Xi doesn't look just like Winnie the Pooh at all. Tune into our 300th episode this Wednesday at 10! Long live the great Communist Party of China! May the autumn's sorghum harvest be bountiful! We good now China?"'' |
| 263 | * Just like the ''Anime/TwinPrincessOfWonderPlanet'' example above, ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'' was once aired in China and only the first two seasons were aired before it was banned permanently from aired in Chinese televisions ever again due to it being disguised as Chinese animation by the distributors in order to get a primetime slot. |
| 264 | [[/folder]] |
| 265 | |
| 266 | [[folder:Other]] |
| 267 | * Taiwan had a ban on most cultural products from Japan for a few decades. However, bootlegs of Japanese manga were prominent in the country until TheNineties. The ban was lifted a few years earlier than in South Korea after Taiwan's transition from one-party Kuomintang military rule to multi-party democracy in 1987. CTV [[https://chinesedora.com/news/6999.htm originally planned]] to air the ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' anime in Taiwan in 1990, but the plan was scrapped due to the aformentioned reason before. |
| 268 | * Various schools and municipalities in China have [[http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/chinese-university-bans-christmas-being-kitsch-western-holiday-n274661 banned Christmas]] and other Western holidays. |
| 269 | * In August of 2022, a Chinese woman was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW1OPsG3rEA detained in Suzhou]] for wearing a kimono in public (she was cosplaying ''Manga/SummerTimeRendering''[='=]s female lead Ushio), with the local police even accusing her of being a RaceTraitor for wearing a traditional garb worn by one of their sworn enemies. |
| 270 | * For some reason, Chinese-Taiwanese Buddhism monk Chin Kung's works are [[https://global.udn.com/global_vision/story/8662/6488221 banned, seized and destroyed on the Chinese mainland.]] |
| 271 | * ''The Epoch Times'' was banned because it was founded by Falun Gong members, reported on Chinese-sensitive topics, contained works written by Falun Gong members which criticize and oppose the ruling Chinese Communist Party, and even has another website (as a part of ''The Epoch Times)'' which allows Chinese mainland users using a VPN to write their reasons on why they decided to quit the Communist Party. |
| 272 | * [[https://hongkongfp.com/2021/07/22/hong-kong-national-security-police-explain-why-childrens-picture-books-about-sheep-are-seditious/ A series of illustrated Cantonese children’s books about sheep and wolves were]] [[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/07/hong-kong-authors-of-childrens-books-sheep-wolves-convicted-of-sedition seized]] in Hong Kong, as they were an [[{{Allegory}} allegory]] of the recent political situation in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong officials felt the books were offensive and could cause sedition against the Chinese Communist Party, which the wolves in the books were based on. Also, it is impossible to purchase the books anywhere, even outside of Hong Kong. |
| 273 | * Encrypted messaging app ''Signal'' has been banned in China since like with ''Animal Crossing: New Horizons'' this enables dissenters to spread posts sensitive to China uncensored. |
| 274 | * The CCP [[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-31/nasa-is-the-latest-to-offend-china-by-calling-taiwan-a-country once called for action]] against UsefulNotes/{{NASA}} because Taiwan was listed as a country on their "Send Your Name to Mars" page. |
| 275 | * In 2022, it was [[https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202207/1271585.shtml reported]] that the Japanese Summer Matsuri Festival in Nanjing was cancelled, with the official reason being "weather and safety reasons". It is reported that the announcement prior to the cancellation was caused by backlash from anti-Japanese nationalist Chinese internet users, but other places have also reported holding the event as usual (as one Chinese internet user has claimed), although they denied the claim. |
| 276 | * China has a list of blacklisted actors who [[RoleEndingMisdemeanor committed several misconduct,]] such as [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking using drugs, sex-related, etc.]] Any television shows or films that included them were edited to remove their appearances, had their credits edited out, were only released outside the Chinese mainland, etc. Any of their works in China will be taken down. A full list of the blacklisted actors would be rather unwieldy, but here are two notable examples: |
| 277 | ** After the arrest of Chinese-Canadian rapper, singer, actor and model Kris Wu on rape allegations, he was blacklisted. In September 22, 2022, a Guangdong KTV was [[https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/22/9/21/n13829878.htm fined]] after playing two of his songs. |
| 278 | ** Zhang Zhehan was blacklisted after photos of him visiting the Yakasuni Shrine (which reveres soldiers who fought for Japan, including Imperial Japanese soldiers who committed atrocities such as Nanking and Unit 731) were circulated on the Chinese Internet. |
| 279 | * This trope is weaponized in two ways. |
| 280 | ** The [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/1989-tiananmen-square-protests#tiananmen-square-copypasta "Tianamen Square Copypasta"]] was made by a South Korean Website/FourChan user to be used against Chinese online gamers that are often seen cheating. In theory, throwing TheLongList of CCP-banned keywords at Chinese players gets their internet service cut off by the Great Firewall of China, or at the very least makes them voluntarily sign off immediately in fear of either this or being falsely accused of dissenting against the CCP. Apparently, it worked well enough that the Japanese Twitter-sphere started using it, as well as Western gamers on [=MMOs=] that have (or had) a large enough presence of Chinese players (e.g. ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''). |
| 281 | ** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul0Mh-8kmXQ LIBERTY PRIME LIBERATES HONG KONG]]", a video made by [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqhnHz3PDXPT6vAHVuAY7dg The Mechanical Shark Channel]] that A. supports the Hong Kong protests and B. features the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' character Liberty Prime who is known for spouting out loads and loads of insults against Chinese communists in the name of American democracy, uses this copypasta as a fake disclaimer at the very beginning of the video. |
| 282 | * Two of the stand-up comedians landed into hot water with China for their choice of jokes. |
| 283 | ** Chinese comedian Li Haoshi is [[https://nypost.com/2023/05/18/china-issues-2m-fine-over-comedian-li-haoshis-army-joke/ arrested]] and issued a fine of $2 million in China for comparing the People's Liberation Army as "stray dogs chasing a squirrel" and quoting "fine style of work, capable of winning battles". The Beijing Regulators view this joke as an embarrassing insult, as it implies that the PLA are {{Paper Tiger}}s only capable of bullying their smaller neighbors, and will lose to any nation capable of fighting back. |
| 284 | ** Creator/NigelNg, famous for playing "Uncle Roger", often makes jabs against mainland China with jokes like "All the phone listening. All the phone listening, this nephew got Huawei phone, they all listening. All our phones, tap into it: Long live president Xi Jinping" (referring to Huawei's heavy surveillance on their tech products) and sarcastically joking if Taiwan would one day become part of China while rhetorically asking if he'll get cancelled for his remarks. He eventually did, get cancelled in China and was [[https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/china/uncle-roger-banned-china-b2344690.html banned]] on Chinese social media platforms. |
| 285 | * On October 1, 2023, a photo of [[https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/04/china/hurdlers-hugging-photo-censor-china-intl-hnk/index.html two Chinese athletes]], Liu Yuwei (number 6) and Wu Yanni (number 4) hugging each other is scrubbed from the internet as it formed the numbers 6 and 4, which is a reference to the Tiananmen Square Massacre that happened on June 4, 1989 (a topic that is extremely sensitive in China). |
| 286 | [[/folder]] |
| 287 |
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