The Big Ban Theory – China Bans US TV Shows

The Ban Happy Chinese Government of Xi Jinping have been tightening their control over the Internet. The Administration of has already sanitized most of their popular social-media platforms and tightened their control over online media organizations and now they are going after foreign film content.

The Big Bang Theory, The Practice, The Good Wife and NCIS have all been banned. However, not long after this announcement CCTV did announce they would air an edited version of The Big Bang Theory in their prime-time. Then came more news that internet video providers such as Youku can only provide 30% of foreign content. It's just an obvious move designed to steer their public towards more domestic programming.

The State Administration of the Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) have stated that all American and British TV shows aired in China will need to receive government approval requiring them to pass the approval of China Censors.

The youth of China have been deserting their own government-controlled TV programs for years. Their programs are considered white-washed propaganda. They are simply too hard to watch, being so mindlessly boring and outrageously unrealistic. Their depictions of the Communist Revolution or the War against the Japanese are of no historical value. They are untrue depictions that everyone already knows about and suffer even more because of lame super-sanitized dialogue and the no budget quality in their overall productions.

The official line of reasoning behind the new policy, claims they are protecting the physical and mental health of their youth and are focused on promoting their vision of what wholesome Chinese social harmony is.

The truth is something very different. Their iron-fist-ed policies are aimed at protecting their pathetic domestic film industry. They simply hate the fact that most Chinese would prefer to watch anything foreign instead of anything produced in China.

They have specifically targeted some of the most popular shows being viewed in China with downloads surpassing the billion mark. Do not for one minute believe anything they say about the content of these programs. They have made many claims that the programs are explicit or immoral or violent and pose a threat to their scheme of social harmony, but you should see how violent many of their cartoons for children are. The fact is they really hate the popularity of these shows.

Censorship in China is nothing new. What they censor is always criticized and perceived to be ridiculous.

It is widely believed that censorship kills creative thinking and one only has to see Chinese TV programming to understand this to be true. If it doesn't outright kill creativity, it prohibits the exploration of character development for sure.

These small minded campaigns of anti-corruption and anti-internet and anti-whatever raging on under Xi Jinping reflect an immaturity that westerners find amusing. Maybe he's just trying to make his mark, make himself significant in modern Chinese history. Trying to make sense of their rationale would be an exercise in futility. None of the actions of Xi Jinping or the Chinese Communist One Party Government will succeed, their efforts are in vain and will in the end have the opposite effect.