A Taiwanese soap opera that is a hit throughout East Asia has been banned by China as a threat to young minds.
Chinese parents had complained about Meteor Garden, (
The series had begun to air on some Chinese television stations last month, but was banned March 8 by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.
"This soap opera has had a negative effect on society and especially misled young people," a spokeswoman for the agency said yesterday. She refused to give her name or any other details of the reason for the ban.
Meteor Garden centers on the romance between a poor girl and a member of a gang of spoiled rich kids at an elite high school in Taipei. Gang members wear expensive designer clothing and pick on fellow students with impunity.
The newspaper Beijing Youth Daily (
State media didn't give specifics about Chinese complaints. But newspapers in Taiwan have said Chinese parents objected to the drama's depiction of school violence and indulgence with brand-name goods and other extravagances.
The ban highlights the conflict between China's growing appetite for imported pop culture and the government's insistence on managing what its people see and hear.
Meteor Garden has been an international success in East Asia, drawing large audiences in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore and Taiwan. The series is based on a Japanese comic book of the same name.
Tsai Chih-ping (柴智屏), producer of Meteor Garden, was quoted by local media as saying it is about young people growing up by learning from their mistakes.
"Many youngsters have gone through the same experience. We are most surprised by the ban," she was quoted as saying.
The series is still available in China on pirated video discs.
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
CHANGE OF TONE: G7 foreign ministers dropped past reassurances that there is no change in the position of the G7 members on Taiwan, including ‘one China’ policies G7 foreign ministers on Friday took a tough stance on China, stepping up their language on Taiwan and omitting some conciliatory references from past statements, including to “one China” policies. A statement by ministers meeting in Canada mirrored last month’s Japan-US statement in condemning “coercion” toward Taiwan. Compared with a G7 foreign ministers’ statement in November last year, the statement added members’ concerns over China’s nuclear buildup, although it omitted references to their concerns about Beijing’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Also missing were references stressing the desire for “constructive and stable relations with China” and
RSS