China’s Anti-Japanese TV War Dramas Knocked for Vulgarity · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The Chinese entertainment industry's incessant production of anti-Japanese TV dramas, under the scrutiny of netizens for a while now, has hit a nerve with China's state-controlled media after two photographs from a war drama showing a nude girl saluting a group of Chinese soldiers leaked online.
As the territorial dispute between China and Japan over islands in the East China sea has intensified over the last three years, so have the number of television dramas [zh] about the Frist and Second Sino-Japanese War, which led to the death of millions of Chinese. Authorities in the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television have been delighted to approve these patriotic story plots.
But the nudity depicted in the two photographs which leaked on popular Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo seemed too much for even state-controlled media outlets, including the China Central Television and the People Daily, which criticized [zh] the country's relentless anti-Japanese TV dramas for being too vulgar.
A Sina Weibo user leaked two photos taken from a Sino-Japanese War drama in which a nude girl is saluting to a group of Chinese soldiers.
The photos, which have circulated widely online, were picked up by provincial media outlets on April 9, 2011 [zh] and national news outlets [zh] about two days later.
Chinese airwaves have been inundated with anti-Japanese war dramas. According to a local news report, 70 of the 200 primetime dramas on major TV networks in 2012 were about the Sino-Japanese War. Sources from Hengdian Movie and Television City [a drama and film production compound] in Zhejiang province said [zh] that among its 300,000 contracted actors, 60 percent have performed the role of Japanese soldiers.
Annually, there are about 48 drama production crews working on anti-Japanese invasion dramas. An actor playing a Japanese soldier can die up to eight times a day. A drama takes an average of four months to complete, which means more than one billion Japanese soldiers have been ‘killed’ in Hengdian alone.
In response to the leaked photos, Sina Weibo's headline news microblog composed a collection [zh] of screen captures of other vulgar moments from war dramas. The set of images was republished more than 30,000 in less than 24 hours and attracted thousands of comments.
Below is the translated collection:
A group of armed Japanese soldiers running away from a woman with an arrow aimed at them.
All the weapons are too weak — let me tear the Japanese soldier apart. His Arms are so strong to tear the Japanese soldier into two pieces so easily.
Our soldiers have turned into armed secret agents with all-terrain vehicles. How can this be about Sino-Japanese war?
Look at this girl. Even though she is surrounded by Japanese soldiers, with her Tai Chi Chuan, touch of death and flying steps, she kills all the gun-armed Japanese soldiers with bare hands.
This drama has combined the anti-Japanese invasion theme with a love story, are you genuinely fighting against the Japanese?
This is the best one. An anti-Japanese “hero” throws a bomb to the sky and takes down a Japanese fighter plane!!! This is such a bluff!
Jump off the cliff to catch the Japanese soldiers who are driving around and kill them… You would be damn lucky if you did not die, can anyone still expect you to kill Japanese soldiers?
I have heard that this gun is called AK47…
Netizens on Weibo disparaged the films, accusing them of distorting the invasion's actual history. In reaction to the still of the nude girl, “City Grass 2013″ (＠城草 2013) wrote [zh]:
惊闻抗战片竟然有女战士全裸面对一排战友的镜头，为了收视率真的一点底线都没有吗！近年拍的好多抗日片也是以搞好为噱头，甚至连妓女都成了抗日英雄，女演员在战场上也是描眉抹唇，搔首弄姿，严重与历史失实。这怎么能让孩子们看。
So shocked to hear that there is a nude heroine saluting to a group of Chinese soldiers in the anti-Japanese invasion drama. In exchange for a lot of viewers, there is no baseline?! In recent years, the anti-Japanese invasion dramas have a lot of strange ideas, some even turn prostitutes into anti-Japanese heroines. When the actresses are in the battlefield, they wear make-up and try to be sexually attractive. It has twisted the history. How can we let our kids see this?
User “Forest big wood” (＠林林林林大木) found [zh] the adult-television style hilarious:
这抗日片也能拍出AV的风格来，实在是彰显了我党一种与时俱进的好风气啊。鼓掌一整天…
The fact that they can develop adult-TV style out of anti-Japanese invasion theme has demonstrated our party's progressive style, it progresses with our times. I clapped my hands all day…
Script writer Bei Cun (@北村) was angry about the plot line [zh]:
拍点正儿八百的抗日片有什么不好？抗战是严肃而又悲壮的，是中国人心中之痛，这么戏耍太过份了！我觉得污染荧屏是一回事，最让人伤心的是对不起英烈们。因为他们真实流过的血和泪都因此被遮蔽了。
Can't they produce something more serious? The Sino-Japanese War is a very solemn historic episode and it is a trauma for Chinese people. Such plots not only pollute the TV screen, but also disgrace our heroes by burying their blood and tears.
User “Observe the Red Cross – 365″ (@看听-红十-365) wondered [zh] who is responsible for the situation:
电视一开全是抗日片，严重扭曲历史真象以及拿假爱国作为娱乐文化并获取利益，我就觉得超级恶心～～～～～仔细想想这是谁的错～～～～
The TV is flooded with anti-Japanese invasion dramas that distort history. They sell fake patriotism as entertainment to make a profit. This is so disgusting…. but when you have a second thought, who did the wrong deed…
Most Chinese people understand that propaganda authorities have encouraged the production of anti-Japanese drama. That's why user “ThreeWatches” called criticism from state-owned CCTV and People's Daily hypocritical [zh]:
抗日片确实烂得没有底线，但“科幻、愚民”这些话从央视和人民日报嘴里说出来，就像强奸犯骂别人猥亵妇女一样怪怪的。
It is true that the anti-Japanese invasion dramas have lost their baseline but when CCTV and People's Daily criticized them as “nonsense and obscurant”, it sounds strange as if rapists are accusing others for harassing women.
“Water Rita” (@水水Rita-天然呆) made fun of the nationalistic conspiracy language and said [zh]:
我怀疑，这些所谓的导演就是境外敌对势力，故意把抗日片拍成这样惹人厌的
I suspect the directors are the overseas enemy forces and they intentionally produce such awful anti-Japanese invasion dramas.