Time Travel ‘Banned’ In China
15-Apr-2011
Technical Translations are used to dealing with the cultural nuances involved in the production of translations for the Chinese market, and reports of this recent turn of events in China caught the attention of Technical Translations project manager Melandra Smith...
The “Jasmine Revolution” currently sweeping the Arabic world seems to be worrying heads of state in China. Firstly there was the anonymous telephone call rallying the populace to join a similar uprising against the Chinese Government. Then the arrests started, with artist Ai Weiwei and moving on to Chinese pro-democracy activists like Zhu Yufu, Ding Mao, Ran Yunfei and Chen Wei being detained by the Chinese authorities. Amnesty International reports that long prison sentences can be anticipated for the detainees.
But the latest twist in the Government crackdown on anything and everything seen as a threat to the Chinese regime has had journalists the world over reaching for their pens. The Chinese
State Administration of Radio Film and Television has now issued a new set of guidelines intended to steer film and television productions for consumption by the Chinese public away from straying into territory that the Government obviously considers too dangerous for general contemplation – such as fantasy and time travel.
To be more exact, advice for producers detailed in the new guidelines warns against productions containing elements of "fantasy, time-travel, random compilations of mythical stories, bizarre plots, absurd techniques, even propagating feudal superstitions, fatalism and reincarnation, ambiguous moral lessons, and a lack of positive thinking."
Speculation has been rife as to what exactly this will translate into for Chinese renditions of programmes such as “Star Trek,” “The X-Files,” “Quantum Leap” or “Dr. Who” and films like “Back To The Future”. Will they be re-written for Chinese consumption or simply prohibited altogether?
The Chinese Government has, of course, come up with various excuses for the reasoning behind the directive. “TV dramas shouldn’t have characters that travel back in time and rewrite history. They say this goes against Chinese heritage,” reports CNN’s Eunice Yoon. “They also say that myth, superstitions and reincarnation are all questionable.”
However, there seems to be a general consensus amongst those who have made comments made on blogs and articles written on the subject that what is actually under attack here is hope - and that the Chinese authorities might as well try to prevent people from dreaming while they are asleep.
Comment