The Chinese Government Is Afraid of Cartoons
A Chinese animation company recently made the Webcartoon posted above to celebrate Chinese new year. Now, as The Guardian reports, the Chinese government is scrambling to censor the film and make sure nobody within China sees it. This is a wonderful demonstration of the effect that animation can have exposing the paranoia and corruption of governments who fear even drawings of cute bunny rabbits.
A translation and additional info about the cartoon can be found on the ChinaGeeks.org:
Regardless of what the disclaimer says, it is probably obvious even to those who don’t speak Chinese that this video makes repeated and explicit reference to real life events. The milk powder death, the fire, the illegal demolitions, the beating of protesters, the self-immolation, the “Tiger Gang” car accident, etc. are all references to real-life events that any Chinese viewer would be immediately and intimately familiar with…Of course, sarcastic animations and other web jokes about these incidents are common. What is not common is the end of the video, which depicts a rabbit rebellion where masses of rabbits storm the castle of the tigers and eat them alive…The clip ends with what seems almost like a call to arms for the new year, with Kuang Kuang saying it will be a meaningful (有愓¹‰, could also be translated as “important”) year and then the end title reading: “The year of the rabbit has come. Even rabbits bite when they’re pushed.”
(Thanks, Jonathan Sloman)
