{"id":192012,"date":"2016-03-03T15:15:58","date_gmt":"2016-03-03T23:15:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=192012"},"modified":"2016-05-10T05:13:01","modified_gmt":"2016-05-10T12:13:01","slug":"new-tv-rules-ban-abnormal-sexual-behavior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2016\/03\/new-tv-rules-ban-abnormal-sexual-behavior\/","title":{"rendered":"New TV Rules Ban “Abnormal Sexual Behavior”"},"content":{"rendered":"
At the Hong Kong Free Press, Karen Cheung reports on wide-ranging new rules that will ban content depicting homosexuality, adultery, and underage love from airing on television<\/strong><\/a> in China. These new rules come after several court cases have been cautiously heralded as legal victories for China’s LGBT community<\/a>.<\/p>\n With regards to sexual content, \u201cabnormal sexual relationships or behaviour\u201d such as homosexuality are\u00a0forbidden under the sixth article. Television dramas must also not have content \u201cshowing or promoting an unhealthy state of marriage,\u201d such as extramarital affairs or one-night stands.<\/p>\n The regulations also warned against\u00a0exposing underage viewers\u00a0to content which \u201ccould have a harmful effect on them,\u201d such as \u201cunderage love,\u201d smoking and binge drinking, and getting into fights. Clothing\u00a0that is\u00a0overly unusual or extravagant will\u00a0be prohibited as well.<\/p>\n […]\u00a0Production companies have\u00a0also been asked to actively promote content approved under the regulations, while writers of television shows and directors are\u00a0encouraged to\u00a0focus on themes that were\u00a0close to reality and which reflect\u00a0social\u00a0progress. The shows should also \u201cpromote the excellent traditional culture of China,\u201d \u201cspread positive energy\u201d and \u201ccontribute to the achievement of the Chinese Dream.\u201d<\/p>\n Many netizens have expressed discontent towards the new regulations. One said, \u201cWhat year are we living in, how are we still openly discriminating against homosexuality?\u201d Another said, \u201cbeastiality [wasn\u2019t mentioned], is it allowed?\u201d<\/p>\n A third said, referring to the four great classical works\u00a0in Chinese literature, \u201cWe can\u2019t watch Journey to the West because there\u2019s gods and demons fighting each other, we can\u2019t watch\u00a0Outlaws of the Marsh because it\u2019s too bloody, we can\u2019t watch Dream of the Red Chamber because there\u2019s underage love, and we can\u2019t watch\u00a0Romance of the Three Kingdoms because there\u2019s scenes of people committing crimes.\u201d [Source<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In addition to content depicting\u00a0“abnormal sexual relationships or behavior,” smoking, drinking, and fighting, the new rules also\u00a0forbid the promotion of superstition, exaggeration of terrorist violence, discouragement of\u00a0ethnic unity, and a long list of other types of undesirable content. Coverage from Quartz’ Josh Horwitz and Zheping Huang translates the article of the new regulation listing all specific types of banned content, noting “if the new rules are enforced, Chinese television viewers may be left with nothing interesting to watch<\/a>.”<\/p>\n The New York Times’ Amy Qin reports that China’s top broadcast regulator has hinted that all rules applying to broadcast television will soon also apply to the online streaming of television<\/strong><\/a>, an industry that has also recently seen increased regulation<\/a>:<\/p>\n The authorities in China are tightening their grip on the country\u2019s booming online television industry after officials from the top broadcast regulator said last week that programs would soon be subject to the same censorship as regular TV shows, according to\u00a0a report in The Beijing Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n […]\u00a0New guidelines lay out an array of subjects that will be prohibited, including depictions of gay relationships, underage romance, extramarital affairs, smoking, witchcraft and reincarnation. In addition, scenes of war or historical events that \u201churt the feelings of the Chinese people\u201d or are \u201charmful to the unity and sovereignty of the country and its territorial integrity\u201d will not be allowed.<\/p>\n Specific measures cited in the Beijing Times article also include a policy that will require in-house censors at video websites to work around the clock and to receive training from the Chinese State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.<\/p>\n The measures are a new challenge for widely used video websites like iQiyi and Youku, which have benefited immensely in recent years from the relative lack of government regulation of online television. According to the Beijing Times article, official statistics presented at the annual meeting of the National Television Industry Annual Conference on Saturday showed that Chinese video platforms produced about 805 online shows, with a total of 12,000 episodes last year, compared with 200 shows and 800 episodes in 2013. [Source<\/strong><\/a>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At the Hong Kong Free Press, Karen Cheung reports on wide-ranging new rules that will ban content depicting homosexuality, adultery, and underage love from airing on television in China. These new rules come after several court cases have been cautiously heralded as legal victories for China’s LGBT community. With regards to sexual content, \u201cabnormal sexual […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":985,"featured_media":192013,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[20,14744,14745,14746,100,5],"tags":[53,9,14131,3750,3751,17189,119],"class_list":["post-192012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-level-2-article","category-level-3-article","category-level-4-article","category-politics","category-society","tag-censorship","tag-homosexuality","tag-lgbt","tag-media-control","tag-media-regulations","tag-positive-energy","tag-tv","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n