Chinese Film Controversy Brought Out By The Internet

from the the-power-of-conversation dept

Over in China a young woman made a movie that has been a dud among reviewers and hadn't brought in very much money. That, obviously, is a non-story. However, this particular young woman happened to be the daughter of a powerful politician in Shenzhen -- and someone in the government started sending out official notices to schools in Shenzen telling them that students should see the movie. Apparently, some schools then ordered students to go buy tickets to the movie. While it seems like an extreme bit of nepotism, what's most interesting about this story is that people got really angry about it, and used the internet loudly to complain -- to the point that the politician in question apologized. The Chinese government has had something of a love-hate affair with the internet -- recognizing that it's an important communication tool for a modern economy, but fearing how it impacts them politically. With this event showing how people can hit back against politicians via the internet, it will be interesting to see if the government (rather than realizing they need to be more open and not so corrupt) cracks down even further on the internet.