China’s anti-Japanese television war dramas, long known for having outlandish plots, reached a new level of “bizarre” when one show recently featured a scene – starring Ge Tian, the wife of China’s most celebrated athlete Liu Xiang – hiding an explosive in her crotch.
In the show Together We Fight the Devils, a long-running period drama on state-run TV centred on the Japanese occupation, Ge played “sister Yin”, the lover of an imprisoned communist.
It is one of many war dramas flooding China's TV screens, featuring brave communist heroes, sometimes with supernatural powers, who stand up against Japanese oppression.
In the bomb scene, which provoked strong reactions and criticism from Chinese online users, Ge visits his jail cell, where he has been left bloodied and badly bruised by his captors. Wearing a red traditional outfit, Ge is fondled and passionately kissed by her lover in plain view of the guards.
Ge says: “Earlier, the little Japanese wanted to touch my groin. How can I let them? That place only belongs to you.”
When the jailed lover pulls his hand from underneath her dress, he is shown holding a bomb – which Yin then detonates, destroying the cell and everyone in it.
Commenters on social media found the scene “very bizarre”. “Why do I feel this is very lewd?” wrote a user with the moniker Crab Xing.
Another user expressed disgust. “The outlandish drama is horrifying. The authorities have banned foreign TV shows – only to let us see this?” the user wrote.
Others called on China’s state censors to “ban the drama”.
In the show Together We Fight the Devils, a long-running period drama on state-run TV centred on the Japanese occupation, Ge played “sister Yin”, the lover of an imprisoned communist.
It is one of many war dramas flooding China's TV screens, featuring brave communist heroes, sometimes with supernatural powers, who stand up against Japanese oppression.
In the bomb scene, which provoked strong reactions and criticism from Chinese online users, Ge visits his jail cell, where he has been left bloodied and badly bruised by his captors. Wearing a red traditional outfit, Ge is fondled and passionately kissed by her lover in plain view of the guards.
Ge says: “Earlier, the little Japanese wanted to touch my groin. How can I let them? That place only belongs to you.”
When the jailed lover pulls his hand from underneath her dress, he is shown holding a bomb – which Yin then detonates, destroying the cell and everyone in it.
Commenters on social media found the scene “very bizarre”. “Why do I feel this is very lewd?” wrote a user with the moniker Crab Xing.
Another user expressed disgust. “The outlandish drama is horrifying. The authorities have banned foreign TV shows – only to let us see this?” the user wrote.
Others called on China’s state censors to “ban the drama”.
