Chinese 'Rage Comic' Site First Victim Of Government's History-Rewriting 'Heroes And Martyrs' Law

from the we'll-tell-you-how-to-remember-us dept

The Chinese government is rewriting history in its own distorted self-image. It wants to distance itself from its unseemly past, so it's retconning history through selectively-edited educational material and blatant censorship. Sure, the Chinese government has never been shy about its desire to shut up those that don't agree with it, but a recent "heroes and martyrs" law forbids disparaging long dead political and military figures.

The government alone will decide how much praise must be slathered on designated "heroes and martyrs." Criticism has been banned, so citizens are at least clear on that aspect. The law went into effect on May 1st, immediately leading to the ban of a Chinese "rage comic" site. This site is the first to be successfully sued under the new law.

The company behind the popular Chinese “rage comics” that were censored earlier this year for defaming a civil war general has been ordered to pay his relatives 100,000 yuan (US$14,500) in compensation.

Ye Ting fought for the Communists in the war and was jailed for five years after being captured by the opposition Nationalists. Soon after his release in 1946 he was killed in a plane crash.

Seven of Ye’s relatives filed a civil lawsuit for defamation against Xian Momo Information Technology in May, soon after it had been ordered to shut down Baozou Manhua, its online platform for rage comics which at the time was the biggest in the country.

Weirdly, the lawsuit centered on a poem written by Ye during his incarceration, which was featured in a video posted to the site spoofing abortion advertisements. According to the court, this "damaged" the reputation of a man who has been dead for 72 years. The law appears to have enacted some sort of hereditary right -- not completely unlike our nation's copyright terms -- which allows surviving family members to be legally offended on behalf of their dead relatives.

The court also decided the use of a poem in a spoof ad also harmed society in general, further cementing the ridiculousness of this censorial law and the government enforcing it.

Censorship in China is no laughing matter. The efforts are ridiculous, as are the justifications, but the government is dead serious about rehabilitating its image through direct control of the media, rewritten text books, and litigation. The law is likely to remain on the books forever, retroactively assuring the censors and despots of today's government will be shiny, happy heroes of the republic for years to come, forcibly respected by the children and grandchildren of today's silenced critics.

Filed Under: china, free speech, heroes and martyrs, rage comic, ye ting