China’s broadcasting regulator said it will encourage online producers to create “healthy” cartoons and clamp down violent, vulgar or pornographic content, as Beijing steps up efforts to bring its thriving entertainment industry to heel.
The chain reaction has been triggered. Ultraman was censored not because of direction from the authorities. It arose from a complaint from the ground. Once the fuse has been ignited, the “cultural revolution” grows by itself. Sydney Daddy shows us some of the censored footage. Violence is not unique to Ultraman, but foreign content is an extremely vulnerable target in these times.
In a related yet unrelated video, Mai Zedong swam the Yangzi River in 1966. This was another “trigger” deliberately orchestrated by Mao to revive his cult personality. Did it work? No at first, but after he had put away all the non-believers, only the believers and surrendered were left.
There is a second part to this story. Wuhan residents who witnessed the swim and who had the disaster of the Great Famine still fresh in their minds refused to believe that Ma swam 9 miles in 65 minutes. They knew he was up to no good and surrounded his villa. Mao managed to escape and send in the PLA. 184,000 Wuhan residents were killed in that failed mutiny.