By: Michael WENG
I. Introduction to film content regulations
The paternalistic Chinese authorities may view the general Chinese audience as a group of “Thermians” in the movie Galaxy Quest that are not good at telling fictions from the reality, whereas on the other hand, the film makers, if leave unattended and unregulated, may do more harm than good to the adorable “Thermians”. To some extent, they are correct. Because unlike many Asian and Western countries, China does not have a Film Rating System; this means all films can be shown in theatres in China to both adults and children. This also means the content of the films in China must be “all-age appropriate”. As noted by Director Zhang Yimou during an interview, Zhang said that when he was producing the film, he had to consider whether the film can fit for 8-year-old children and 80-year-old adults.
The reality, however, is far more complicated. All films (domestic, imported, and co-productions) have to be submitted to Chinese government agencies for review and approval, and whether the film can be released, distributed and exported (for a Chinese film) is subject to the government policy and attitude towards its contents. From westerners’ point of view, this is the content censorship. But most countries in the world regulated the contents of movies, as a movie can be a powerful medium for swaying the opinions of the masses. For instance, each year British Board of Film Classification (formerly known as British Board of Film Censors) will ban certain movies from the release to public. A typical example is Mikey, a horror movie made in 1996 featuring a child as a killer. It is still banned for all-age audience in UK today because the authority believed such a movie might cause children who watched it to act violently.
In addition, China has its own issues. The recent Chinese public outcry over Sino-Japanese war audio-visual productions that depict ludicrous and astonishing plots such as “tearing alive Japanese soldiers into pieces with bare hands” and “hiding a grenade in a female’s private part” indicate how far and how low a Chinese writer or director would go to attract potential audience. Also, a movie grading system also has problems. Chinese street DVD peddlers have already targeted the adolescents with foreign movies using “G-rated” or “age 18 or above” as advertisement logos. Similarly, an official movie grading system may push the curious Chinese youth to use other ways to see the otherwise restricted content.
In summary, while the current regime for China’s movie content review are not 100% reasonable, like Chinese director Lou Ye once said, “We are all responsible for this unreasonable movie-censorship program.”
II. The regulatory authority for movie content review
The ultimate agency for content review is the SARFT (State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of The People’s Republic of China). The Content Review Committee of SARFT, made up of 36 regular members, is in charge of reviewing films, providing comments to abridge contents, and handing out decisions on whether the film can be distributed or not. The film Re-Assessment Committee is in charge of reviewing the film that has been rejected once. For domestic films, the provincial branch of SARFT is trusted with content review, but for Sino-Foreign Co-productions or foreign movies, they have to go through the provincial branch, the CFCC (China Film Co-production Corporation) and ultimately the Content Review Committee within SARFT itself.
In other words, the power explicitly and potentially lying in the hands of SARFT and its branches is significant and decisive to any international co-productions and foreign movies. It does not just review and approve of the movie, it studies the script and cameras and even subtitles of the movie and makes sure that they are in accordance with the policies and ideology of the Chinese government. The existing record gives that in 2009, the total submitted co-production numbered 77 films, and there were 10 of them rejected by the SARFT because of content regulation. Even after the “Film Public Release Permit” is granted, SARFT still retains the right to revoke the Permit.
In special occasions, the roles of other government agencies will also be relevant to certain genres of film. When encountering a film that pertains to a theme that is specialized in a certain organization, this group will jointly review the film content. Sometimes the other organization, if it relates more closely to the interest of national government, will be the sole judge of the film, whereas other times SARFT still maintains the decision after taking in outside advice. For example, the recent film 12 Citizens is known as the Chinese version of 12 Angry Men by Hollywood MGM. Not only is it a justice-themed film, but also it includes the procedures of a 12-men jury, which is absent in the Chinese legal system. Even though the director/screenwriter purposefully made the jury part a mock trial among law students so that it is less controversial, the SARFT still had to hand the content review to China's Supreme Procuratorate, which then demanded revision of some details in the film. The locked jury room was revised to an open one because the scene relates to false imprisonment—this was one of the suggestions. In this case the Procuratorate is certainly more specialized in the domain of Chinese law and thus has more say in censoring what it considers is against Chinese national and legal interest.
It is expected that the latter kind of co-review would appear more often than the previous one. One example is that in many cases when the film plot talks about teenage education and lifestyle, the film should also be reviewed by The Women’s Federation, which supervises the development and health of underage citizens. After the SARFT has obtained the comments from The Women’s Federation, the two will then discuss and make a decision together.
One thing special about the entertainment domain is that it appeals and reaches all classes and characters of people. Therefore, the people, even the country, can be partly influenced by whatever “trend” letting into people’s sight. It is reasonable and important for the content review to exist: in China’s case particularly, all relevant departments are to contribute in content review process as the content of the film itself may be relevant to particular laws and regulations in various fields, along with those published by SARFT, the one major go-to agency.
III. Forbidden/Discouraged content
“The Stipulation of Film Script and Management” outlines specifically the forbidden and discouraged contents of films in China. The following contents are absolutely prohibited, those that:
1） are against Chinese Constitution
2） damage the integrity and superiority of land of China
3） disclose national secrets, endanger national security, and damage national honors
4） incite ethnical hatred, discrimination, endanger ethnical integrity and customs
5） are against religion regulations and promote superstition
6） disturb societal stability
7） promote prostitution, crimes, and gambling
8） insult and slander other individuals, and encroach on others’ interests
9） endanger public morality and culture
10） other contents that government regulations prohibit
The discouraged contents (upon seeing those, the content review committee will advise the producers to cut out such parts) include those that:
1） distort historical facts and/or events and/or heroic figures of any country
2） insult the military, public security department, and justice department
3） consist of prostitution, eroticism, rape, sexual intercourse, sexual abnormality, human genitals, and such sound effects
4） consist of violence, horrific images, and murder; perverse the values of justice, truth, and beauty; showcase the steps of crime-committing and special investigating techniques; consist of extreme images of drugs and gambling; consist of forceful interrogation, and sound effects of above sorts
5） amplify the stupidity, negativity, and ignorance of society
6） consist of religious extremist views
7） encourage environment damage, torture, hunting, eating of protected animals
8） are overly expressive of alcoholism and smoking
9） are against pertinent other laws and regulations
Another category would be the so-called “special themes”, which include those that include:
1） Diplomacy
2） Ethnicity
3） Religions
4） Military
5） Public security
6） Justice
7） Historical figure
8） Cultural figures
The special/sensitive themes would catch the authorities’attention from the start when the producers submit the scripts. The provincial film authorities would demand three copies of the script and report to the local authorities first before reporting to SARFT. These are neither prohibited nor discouraged, yet its sensitivity inevitably makes domestic film producers cautious of what they convey in their films. (To be continued)
Mr. Michael WENG is a Shanghai-based partner with Global Law Office who specializes in foreign direct investment into China, cross-border merger and acquisitions (including representing Chinese companies “going global”), and corporate compliance. (E-mail: mweng@glo.com.cn)
Ms. Ivy (Zhuxin) WANG, an intern with Global Law Office, contributed to this article.
