Beijing: A Chinese TV drama on the fight against Japanese aggression during the second World War has been pulled off the air for having many sexually suggestive lines and lewd scenes.
The 58-episode show, Yi Qi Da Guizi (Fight the Devils Together), which began broadcasting on a Sichuan-based channel on May 7, has been taken off air and "will receive modification," state-run Global Times reported.
Celebrated former athlete Liu Xiang's wife Ge Tian plays a woman, Yin Hua, in a controversial scene that has lewd content.
Many netizens criticised the scene containing too many sexually suggestive lines and lewd scenes of intimacy.
A commentary published in 'The Beijing News' on Tuesday said the shocking scene in such a bizarre drama demonstrates only vulgar taste rather than the spirit of devotion shown by the Chinese resistance fighters during the war. It said such programmes humiliate war heroes.
On Tuesday, Ge refuted such criticism, saying that the netizens were "interpreting (the scene) out of context."
A number of TV drama and films about the war against Japanese aggression have come in for criticism recently because of bizarre scenes, including scenes featuring heroes tearing enemies apart with their bare hands or taking down a Japanese fighter plane with a stone.
According to a guidance issued by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television in April, dramas that depict this war in what is deemed an "excessively entertaining" manner will not receive broadcast licenses.
"The war theme makes the TV series easier for some programmes to gain approval from authorities and producers," Xiao Feng, a director of several movies on the war, told the Global Times.
Xiao's opinion was echoed by many netizens, who said that there was no way such lewd scenes would pass muster with TV, movie and media regulators if they were not filmed as part of war-themed or patriotic content.
