China to regulate Internet video
(AP)
Updated: 2006-08-16 11:37
BEIJING - China will move to regulate video content on the Internet in the
wake of a surge in short satirical films online, state media said Wednesday.
Video spoofs have become so popular that Chinese have even coined a new slang
term, "egao," to describe the act of using real film clips to create mocking
send ups.
From late August or September, only authorized Web sites such as Sina.com,
Sohu.com and Netease.com, will be allowed to show short films under the new
regulations, the Xinhua News Agency said, citing an announcement by the State
Administration of Radio, Film and Television.
A recent example of the trend, it said, was a 10-minute satire of a
1974 film called "Sparkling Red Star" which was remade with original clips
to tell the story of an aspiring pop star competing in a television singing
contest. The original film chronicles the struggles of a brave child soldier,
Pan Dongzi, who fights feudalists and Japanese invaders in revolutionary-era
China.
Xinhua said the "Sparkling Red Star" satire was widely criticized, with some
commentators saying that that such a distortion of China's revolutionary history
was "immoral and unacceptable."
Among other recent spoofs was a 20-minute short titled "The Bloody Case of
the Steamed Bun," using clips from director Chen Kaige's elaborate costume drama
"The Promise."
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