China Bans Rage Comics After Controversial Video Reemerges

China’s internet is becoming more defined by the benign things users can’t see than what they can.

Over the past two months alone, the Chinese government has scrubbed seemingly innocuous things like Peppa Pig, Winnie the Pooh and "the letter “N"":/memes/internet-censorship-in-china#letter-n from the web. While such acts of censorship have long been considered routine practices, as part of the government's relentless efforts to quell any dissent toward its ruling Communist Party, more and more internet memes have fallen victim to the notorious state censorship. The latest meme to bite the dust: rage comics.

Baozou Manhua, the popular Chinese Rage Comics website, has recently come under fire for a 2014 video that recently reemerged on Jinri Toutiao, a popular social news aggregator. The Cyberspace Administration of China, the country's main internet regulator, said on May 18th that it had "summoned the executives of several internet platform companies this afternoon and asked them to strictly apply the cyberspace regulation.” By Friday, Baozou’s Weibo account, which had more than 10 million followers, was shuttered.

The video in question mocked Dong Cunrui. Considered a martyr in his country, Cunrui was a People’s Liberation Army soldier who destroyed a Nationalist bunker in a suicide bombing during the Chinese civil war. The clip features Wang Nim, the host of Bao Zou Big News Event, a Chinese Internet talkshow produced by Baozou, wearing a rage face mask. He said, “Dong Cunrui stared at the enemy’s bunker, his eyes bursting with rays of hate. He said resolutely, ‘Commander, let me blow up the bunker. I am an eight-point youth, and this is my eight-point bunker.’” The last line referenced a Chinese KFC ad campaign from 2014, “I am an eight-point youth, this is my Eighth Fort.”

In addition to being removed from Weibo, Baozou has been scrubbed from most of the Chinese Internet, including removal from video-streaming sites Youku and iQIYI and the question and answer site Zhihu. Baozou Manhua’s official websites and Jinri Toutiao have also been shut down.

The latest crackdown stems from the Heroes and Martyrs Protection Act, a law recently enacted by the National People’s Congress which prohibits jokes made at the expense of communist heroes or martyrs, which has already claimed a number of high-profile victims since its legislation on May 1st.

In the wake of the reprimand, Baozuo Manhua CEO Ren Jian apologized for the video. In a statement, he said, “The company will start internal rectification from today. We’ll stop posting new content and organize for all of our staff to learn relevant laws and regulations.”

Peppa Pig blocked on Chinese video app after becoming a 'subculture icon' https://t.co/PYoCCNRGpc by @mikehwalsh with quotes from me pic.twitter.com/jTEU65FIFL

— 💯Fergus Ryan (@fryan) May 1, 2018

In addition to being removed from Weibo, Baozou has been scrubbed from most of the Chinese Internet, including removal from video-streaming sites Youku and iQIYI and the question and answer site Zhihu. Baozou Manhua’s official websites and Jinri Toutiao have also been shut down.

The news of the ban comes just one week after Netflix paid $30 million for the International rights for a film based on the Baozou Manhua comic known as 7723. Titled Next Gen, the film is slated for a summer release and features vocal performances of Jason Sudeikis, Michael Peña, Constance Wu, David Cross, and Charlyne Yi.