Xinhua reports on the completion of a new motion picture law in China. Included in the law is a three-tier film rating system:

“A film rating system is very essential in China, but it will not allow to screen movies rated Level Three,” Tong Gang, director of Motion Picture Bureau with the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) was quoted as saying by a report on Web site of Ministry of Culture.

Level Three, or III, is one of the three-tier ratings used for movies containing sex or violent contents in China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. No one under 18 years old is permitted to rent, purchase or watch such a film in movie theater.

A movie rating system in China has been discussed for years since the people have begun to enjoy an increasing number imported films and a booming domestic film market.

To read more on past discussions surrounding film ratings systems, see this March 2008 CDT post, “Film Rating System = No Fun.”

Update: it was recently published that there are no such plans to implement a ratings system; the source for the Xinhua story was based on material dating back to 2004. More, from Danwei:

On Friday, the Beijing Youth Daily called the Film Bureau for confirmation and was told, “It’s fake news. Director Tong has not expressed any opinion on a movie ratings system recently. We’re currently looking into the matter.”

The newspaper did some digging and discovered that the Tong Gang quotes were identical to a report from that ran in the Jiangnan Times on February 24, 2004 (itself a summary of the earlier interview in The Beijing News).