Criticism of godawful Spring Festival Gala censored again on Chinese social media
Just imagine how bad next year’s will be
The reviews for last night’s CCTV Spring Festival Gala are more positive than you might expect on Chinese social media today, thanks to China’s diligent Net Nanny.
China Digital Times provides a list of terms that were censored on Weibo ahead of the annual countdown gala, including: “Spring Festival Gala + roast” (春晚吐槽), “Spring Festival Gala + garbage” (春晚+垃圾), “Spring Festival Gala + nauseating” (春晚+恶心), and, of course, “Spring Festival Gala + steamed bun” (春晚+包子).
Indeed, according to Free Weibo, the most censored term on the social media network at the moment is “Spring Festival Gala,” followed by “Spring Festival Gala + roast.”
Last year, the world’s most watched television show was popularly and properly roasted online, causing censors to also flick the switch and harmonize much of the criticism.
However, prior to this year’s gala, director Yang Dongsheng, who also directed last year’s show, said that he was “cool with criticism” and wouldn’t “take any mean taunts seriously,” reports SupChina’s Jiayun Feng.
But China was still apparently worried about Yang having his feelings hurt. Chinese state media outlets have unanimously praised this year’s gala, applauding its “international style” and “diverse cultural elements.”
However, the show and its so-called “international style” and “diverse cultural elements” were far less well-received on Twitter and by foreign media outlets, particularly in the case of one sketch which starred a Chinese actress playing an “African mother.”
Wearing blackface and a large artificial behind, the woman was accompanied by an African performer dressed up as a monkey and ended the skit by declaring “I love Chinese people! I love China!”
The skit was actually aimed at promoting China-Africa ties. Of course, the show’s directors didn’t only limit themselves to portraying how China was helping out African people. As usual, China’s happy ethnic minorities were a big part of the event:
Hey, at least the gala gave us this:
