“A few weeks ago, when the movie opened in China, there was already a call for a boycott – on the grounds that foreigners had lifted one of China’s most precious symbols, the panda, and were using it for their own profit… …the main question being asked is: how could Western filmmakers have used Chinese themes to create such a brilliant animated movie with such widespread appeal to the Chinese themselves?”It is strange that this should cause the Chinese so much angst, but points to something that everyone else in the world should not under-estimate.
What should not be under estimated is that the vast majority of Chinese have been brought up in a society that has been carefully managed by Communists with the sole aim at perpetuating their long term grip on power.
Chinese are systematically brainwashed to the whim of the people in power from birth to death.
That’s not to say that people don’t think independently (or are stupid), as they do, they just either end up deeply unhappy, overseas or in prison.
Every time ‘we’ see some strange Chinese reaction to something we take for granted, we need to understand the pervasive brainwashing that has gone on for a number of generations.
How the hell anyone can expect creative spirit (even to create something as banal as a Panda that’s an expert in martial arts) to flourish in a society that controls almost even aspect of peoples thought? What is surprising is that it should even be discussed.
However, I guess that Chinese are starting to confront these issues is a hopeful sign that they may be collectively questioning the grip the Communist Party has on people’s lives. On the other hand if is boils now to some silly nationalist argument then that will demonstrate how successful the communists have been in controlling thought.
Like everything else, freedom of expression has its own boundary. The boundary lies when somebody’s beliefs and rights are outrightly violated.