China’s television regulator has ordered a crack down on dramas about the country’s battles with Japan during and before World War II and demanded they be more serious, state media said on Friday, following viewer complaints about ludicrous storylines
Ties have been shadowed for years by what Beijing says has been Tokyo’s refusal to admit to wartime atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers in the country between 1937 and 1945, something taught to every Chinese school child and a staple of television dramas.
But Chinese viewers have taken to social media to complain about the ridiculous plots in the anti-Japan dramas, including one show in which heroic Chinese split Japanese soldiers in half with their hands, something shown in graphic detail.
Another features a Chinese archer who can shoot multiple arrows in just one shot, killing several Japanese soldiers at the same time.
“The anti-Japan war is a great act of heroism performed by the Chinese people against the invaders, and is a valuable resource for film and television creativity,” television watchdog official Wang Weiping told the official People’s Daily.
“Recently some of this creativity has shown a lack of seriousness, creating lots of nonsense, not respecting history and being overly entertaining which has had a bad effect on society which must be corrected,” Wang added.