An anti-Japanese war drama has been temporarily pulled from Chinese television after viewers complained that a scene showing a female character concealing a suicide bomb in her crotch has gone too far.
That’s saying something, considering Chinese TV dramas set during the Japanese invasion are known for their impossibly violent and outlandish plots. This includes one scenario in which a man ripped a Japanese soldier in half with his bare hands, and another scene showing a communist hero blowing up a plane by tossing a hand grenade in the air.
The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) is now reviewing the popular period drama Together We Fight the Devils, after the viewers seemed to agree that the scene showing Chinese actress Ge Tian pulling an explosive from her undercarriage was even more lewd than usual.
The shot begins with “sister Yin” visiting her lover who’d been locked up by Japanese soldiers, Associated Press explains.
He fondles her and finds a grenade hidden in her crotch. It is meant for a suicidal act of resistance against his Japanese captors.
But before he pulls out the grenade, the lovers exchange several lines of ambiguous sexual innuendo that might also refer to the later suicidal act. For example, the man says he would erupt one more time with ecstasy.
“They are using sex and violence to entice the audience under the cover of national sentiments,” read a Xinhua editorial that lashed out at ludicrous plots in such dramas. “They are reveling on the scars of the history.”
Web users took to forums to express their collective feelings of disgust over the plot, calling on the show to be banned.
“The authorities have banned foreign TV shows only to let us see this?” one netizen asked.
Watch for yourself below.
