Da Ai TV has canceled its new soap opera Jiachang’s Heart (智子之心), reportedly due to criticism from Chinese officials two days after the show’s pilot aired, sparking concerns about the reach of Chinese censorship.
The TV channel, which airs in Taiwan and China, is owned by the Tzu Chi Culture and Communication Foundation, a subsidiary of the Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu Chi Foundation, which is known for charitable work and private hospitals.
The show was inspired by the story of Tzu Chi volunteer Lin Chih-hui (林智惠), now 91, who was born in the Japanese colonial era and served as a Japanese military nurse in China during World War II.
Photo courtesy of Da Ai Television
The show’s trailer was panned by Chinese media, and local media reported that China’s Taiwan Affairs Office sent officials to the foundation’s office in Taiwan to investigate the show soon after the pilot aired on Thursday last week.
“It is clear from the 15-minute trailer that the first half of the series is kissing up to Japan,” local online media outlet ET Today cited China’s Global Times newspaper as saying in an opinion piece by a Chinese official.
Although Da Ai had denied receiving any complaints from Beijing, the channel on Saturday last week pulled the show off the air after broadcasting just two of 35 planned episodes.
China played no role in the show’s cancelation, Da Ai media development manager Ou Hung-yu (歐宏瑜) said on Monday.
The channel decided that the show’s depiction of war is contrary to its guideline of “purifying human hearts and encouraging social harmony,” Ou said, citing as an example a line of dialogue: “Let us go to the battlefield together.”
The show might retraumatize certain viewers, he added.
Asked to explain why Da Ai, which has a reputation for careful management of graphic content, approved the show, Ou said that the channel wishes to “avoid controversy.”
No viewers made any complaints about the show, he added.
The channel’s decision to shelve the show made little sense, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ding-yu (王定宇) said.
“There was no way to produce Schindler’s List without depicting Nazis, or make an American Civil War drama without mentioning slavery,” Wang said. “A nation cannot escape history, no matter how strong it is.”
Beijing’s ill treatment of an organization that has for many years conducted disaster relief and educational programs in China betrays a lack of gratitude, he said.
“The Taiwan Affairs Office now wants to come to Hualien to investigate the show. I say our government should deny visas to these officials,” Wang said.
It is a historical fact that Taiwan was under Japanese rule during that time and it is inappropriate for China to interfere in the workings of a religious organization, DPP Legislator Chang Hung-lu (張宏陸) said.
“I hope Tzu Chi will not back down from attempts by political forces to meddle in its affairs,” Chang said.
China has been suppressing the democratic freedoms and human rights of other nations by expanding its censorship of speech across borders, National Tsing Hua University professor of sociology Chen Ming-chi (陳明祺) said.
As a member of Taiwanese society, Tzu Chi has an obligation to stand with the freedom of speech, rather than allowing itself to be censored, he said.
“Without democracy, there will be no freedom of religion and no freedom for it to do good,” Chen said.
The Mainland Affairs Council issued a statement calling on Beijing to adopt a “more rational and peaceful mindset” toward Taiwanese cultural and artistic productions.
The freedom of speech is a universal right that should be respected and protected, it said.
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS