Lewd’ WWII show under fire

A TV drama portraying the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45) has courted controversy recently after a scene in which a woman hides a grenade in her crotch to kill Japanese soldiers went viral online.

The 58-episode show, Yi Qi Da Guizi(Fight the Devils Together), which began broadcasting on a Sichuan-based channel on May 7, has been pulled off the air and "will receive modification," the entertainment portal of Netease reported on Tuesday, quoting sources from within China's top film and TV watchdog.    

Celebrated former athlete Liu Xiang's wife Ge Tian played the woman, Yin Hua, in the controversial scene. In the scene, Yin visits her boyfriend, a Communist seized by Japanese soldiers, in jail and the couple shares a passionate kiss in front of guards.

Ge's character then says, "Some xiaoriben (a slur for Japanese people), want to touch my crotch. How can I let them? That place only belongs to you." When her boyfriend put his hand under her dress, he finds a grenade, which Ge's character then detonates, killing everyone in the cell.           

Many netizens criticized the scene containing too many sexually suggestive lines and "lewd" scenes of intimacy.

A commentary published on The Beijing News on Tuesday said that the shocking scene in such a bizarre drama demonstrates only vulgar taste rather than the spirit of devotion shown by Chinese resistance fighters during the war.

It added that such programs humiliate war heroes. 

On Tuesday Ge refuted such criticism, saying that the netizens were "interpreting [the scene] out of context," ent.163.com reported.

A number of TV drama and films about the war against Japanese aggression have come in for criticism recently because of bizarre scenes, including scenes featuring heroes tearing enemies apart with their bare hands or taking down a Japanese fighter plane with a stone.   

According to a guidance issued by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television in April, dramas that depict this war in what is deemed an "excessively entertaining" manner will not receive broadcast licenses.

"The war theme makes the TV series easier for some programs to gain approval from authorities and producers," Xiao Feng, a director of several movies on the war, told the Global Times.

Xiao's opinion was echoed by many netizens, who said that there was no way such lewd scenes would pass muster with TV, movie, and media regulators if they were not filmed as part of war-themed or patriotic content.