• December 28, 2011, 11:03 PM HKT

Beijing Censors Hong Kong Cannibal Drama

European Pressphoto Agency

Actor Charmaine Sheh of the Hong Kong drama “When Heaven Burns,” at an award show in Seoul in August.

A controversial Hong Kong television drama depicting scenes of cannibalism has touched the nerve in Beijing, for reasons that may go much further than a mere disapproval of its violent content.
“When Heaven Burns,” a bleak portrayal of humanity produced by broadcaster Television Broadcasts Ltd., has been banned in mainland China in what the Hong Kong media said was the first such move against a Hong Kong soap opera in more than two decades. With just four episodes to go, Chinese state censors ordered TVB’s mainland sub-licensees, online video companies Youku.com and Tudou.com and nine other website operators to remove the show from their sites, the television station said. TVB said Wednesday it is trying to seek clarification from Chinese authorities.
While the reason for the censorship remains unclear, the move is set to intensify an already heated online discussion about the show because of its unusual plot point: cannibalism.
The 30-episode series centers on a fictional tragic incident in 1992. During a mountaineering trip in the Chinese region of Xinjiang, four young, aspiring pop musicians become stranded on a snow-capped mountain. Out of desperation, three of them eat and kill the fourth. The story looks at how the three survivors and the people close to them are haunted by the experience years later. The story also laments a lack of originality in popular music and stresses the need to stay true to one’s dreams despite the suppression of society.
Those features might make it easy to see why Beijing’s censors would stop the show, given their focus on programming that steers away from controversy. But the ban also follows comments by the show’s screenwriter that might have given authorities other reasons to step in.
In an interview with Hong Kong’s Apple Daily on Monday, show screenwriter Chow Yuk-ming said that the story was inspired by the events of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in June 1989. He said he moved the date of the cannibal incident in the drama to 1992 from 1989 to avoid stirring controversy. Discussion of the 1989 failed student democracy movement remains taboo in mainland China.
His statement spurred a flurry of speculation in Hong Kong as to whether other elements of the show also allude to the Tiananmen crackdown, with some local pundits speculating that the decline of original music in Hong Kong represents the city’s forgetfulness of past events.
TVB on Wednesday acknowledged that Mr. Chow’s show nodded to Tiananmen as well as other historical events, though it said that doesn’t necessarily mean the plot of the drama is a metaphor of the June 4 crackdown.
Whatever influenced the censors’ decision, the ban on “When Heaven Burns” could attract further debate and help boost what has so far been mediocre ratings in Hong Kong. Though the drama has attracted somewhat of a cult following among younger viewers, older viewers have largely dismissed the program. Many have complained that the drama’s unique storyline– accompanied by unconventional filming techniques that include frequent scenes of the main characters gulping down pieces of near-raw steak–are hard to follow, and that the subject matter is too deep.
–Polly Hui
COPIADO : online.wsj.com