Digital Journal – Blame the bun. More specifically, “The Bloody Case of the Steamed Bun,” a short online satirical film made by a Chinese blogger that attracted the attention of censorship advocates in China. Now, a major Chinese city is threatening to slap surfers with fines for online defamation amid a downpour of similar satirical Web films.
Chongqing, an industrial city in China’s southwest, plans to institute fines up to $625 US in a new set rules to target Web users who supposedly “spread information or remarks defaming others,” reports Associated Press.
Potential violations include posting online videos that “satirize others or social phenomena.” That may justify film director Chen Kaige’s lawsuit against the creator of a 20-minute short film made with the clips from his film The Promise. The film is whimsically called “The Bloody Case of the Steamed Bun.”
Well done, China. Your government encourages widespread Net use for business and education purposes, but aims to strangle access to material deemed obscene. You are a superpower opening your arms to international trade and artistic excellence, but now you look like a paranoid parent trying to shield a daughter’s eyes from a ribald joke. Grow up.
Most importantly, China needs to realize how freedom of the Internet could elevate its cultural standing past other restrictive nations. By punishing those who wish to inject humour into short films — harmless and non-hateful films, mind you — China is sending a very clear message to its people: Be serious or else.
And no one likes an entire country that takes itself too seriously.
