The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) has banned the screening of foreign cartoons during the so-called "Golden Hours" from 5 to 8pm, prime cartoon-viewing time for Chinese children.  The regulation will primarily affect Japanese cartoons like 网球王子(Tennis Prince) and 灌蓝高手(Slamdunk) which are extremely popular with young people. 

SARFT apparently thinks move will benefit the domestic cartoon industry by "clearing up the sky", while also bringing some unspecified benefits to Chinese kids ( Note the first sentence of this article which informs us that "Chinese children will be able to watch domestic cartoons during 5 to 8 every day".  And then note the paragraph later that says 80% of surveyed kids like the foreign cartoons, while "a certain number" - whatever that might mean - expressed dislike for the domestically produced ones.)   

This all sounds eerily similar to, and just as bizarre as the decision to pull The Da Vinci Code from cinemas at the height of its popularity, under the pretext of protecting and promoting the domestic film industry.  

However, this Xinhua report also includes criticism of the new regulation from the Southern Metropolitan News, which described the new regulation as a deprival of consuming rights of the public" and blamed the poor state of the domestic industry on the quality of the products being produced. 

It is also possible that this may be another case of authorities applying a bandaid to the repercussions of shoddy economic planning.  According to the article, the government decided in 2004 that 60% of all cartoons shown in each quarter should be domestically produced ones.  This led to a rapid increase in investment in the industry, and the number of cartoons being produced soared.  But since, as noted above, these cartoons don’t seem to be very popular with "the yoof", and with new cartoons being produced all the time, a lot of people must have been losing a lot of money. 

So is this new rule that "clears the skys" for domestic producers another example of ass-backwards, reactionary economic planning? (Much like the ban on electric bikes introduced in Zhuhai, Guanzhou and several other cities, which was designed to force people to buy cars and thereby reduce the massive overcapacity in the domestic auto industry.)

In related news, the much hyped Chinese animated feature film Thru The Moebius Strip, the most expensive animated film in Chinese history, has apparently tanked at the domestic box office, pulling in just 100,000 yuan in it’s first week of release.  

 

UPDATE:

Foreign media outlets have picked up this story and are really going to town on it.  Dozens of agencies from the BBC to CNN have drawn attention to this new regulation by highlighting that the Simpsons can now not be shown on Chinese TV.  (CNN headline: D’oh! China Primetime Ban For Homer)

The problem is that this blog has never once seen an episode of the Simpsons on Chinese TV, nor does it know anyone else who has.  As mentioned above, the new regulation primarily affects Japanese cartoons, as most Western cartoons (with the exception of Tom &  Jerry and some other classics) have never been shown here and aren’t popular..  Yet another example of lazy foreign reporting.