Bad taste: LeEco’s Go Princess Go, other streaming hits by China’s Tencent, iQiyi shut down for vulgarity, violence and ‘superstitious’ content
Just as Chinese web dramas begin to make their mark, Beijing starts clamping down on those ‘disruptive to Chinese cultural tradition’
Chinese censors have again clamped down on popular internet content on the mainland, with the removal this week of local entertainment portal LeEco’s self-produced Go Princess Go, iQIYI’s The Lost Tomb and at least three other online streaming shows for being vulgar, violent or superstitious.
LeEco confirmed on Thursday that it had stopped streaming the romantic-comedy drama at the request of the “relevant (government) department”, but said that viewers outside the mainland can still watch it.
LeEco said through a statement on its social media account that the show is being modified and “will be back in near future”.
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It added that it will establish a 7 billion yuan (US$1.06 billion) fund to support home-made content production.
The company was known as Letv until it rebranded earlier this month to better represent its broader portfolio that now includes online video, smartphones and electric cars. The new name reflects its interconnected “ecosystem”, it said.
At least until it was taken down, Go Princess Go has ranked as one of the most popular shows in China in recent weeks. The series, which was produced only for web broadcasting, was released on LeEco’s website le.com in the middle of last month and had already racked up a cumulative 2.69 billion views by the time it got the chop on Wednesday.
It revolves around the - often hilarious - exploits of modern-day womaniser Zhang Peng as he travels back in time and winds up trapped in the body of the Crown Princess of the time, thus giving him access to a harem of desirable ladies.