Beginning in July 2017, the

Chinese government The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an authoritarian political system in the People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of legislative, executive, m ...

censored Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

imagery of the anthropomorphic teddy bear

Winnie-the-Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. The first collection of stories about the character was the book ''Win ...

, particularly Disney's version of the character. The censorship is believed to be a result of

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...

(CCP) general secretary

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, ...

being compared to the character in

Internet memes An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

, which the Chinese government saw as a disrespectful mockery of the leader of its country.

Background

Censorship in China

The

(CCP) uses extensive censorship. For instance, the Chinese government has censored topics regarding the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...

and CCP chairman

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

, the

1989 Tiananmen Square protests The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...

, and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. The Chinese government's censorship, which was initially limited to the

mainland Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or dem ...

, is now spreading to other regions, such as Taiwan. For instance, in 2017 Taiwanese universities were asked to refrain from discussing sensitive issues in class, including unification/independence or " One China, One Taiwan". Due to the financial benefits of fee-paying mainland students, over 80 of 157 universities agreed to the demands, which compromised their academic independence.

Comparisons between Xi Jinping and Winnie the Pooh

Chinese Internet users have frequently compared Xi Jinping to Winnie the Pooh: the comparisons serve to satirize Xi's publicly projected image. Xi attempts to portray himself as serious, whereas Winnie-the-Pooh is a comedic and cartoon character for children. Comparisons between the cartoon character and Xi Jinping date back to 2013, when the Chinese leader visited

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

in the United States. An image of the two leaders walking was immediately compared to that of the bear and his friend

Tigger Tigger is a fictional character, an anthropomorphic stuffed tiger. He was originally introduced in the 1928 story collection '' The House at Pooh Corner'', the sequel to the 1926 book ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' by A. A. Milne. Like other Pooh char ...

. The humorous tone on social media that day was repeated on other occasions with other leaders, including Japanese Prime Minister

Shinzo Abe Shinzo Abe ( ; ja, 安倍晋三, Hepburn: , ; 21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 20 ...

, who Internet users saw as a reasonable resemblance to

Eeyore Eeyore ( ) is a fictional character in the ''Winnie-the-Pooh'' books by A. A. Milne. He is generally characterized as a pessimistic, gloomy, depressed, anhedonic, old grey stuffed donkey who is a friend of the title character, Winnie-th ...

, the sad donkey that is also part of Winnie-the-Pooh's adventures. Very reluctant to any humorous comment about Xi, authorities ended up condemning the bear when some political activists and

dissidents A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20th ...

used it to express their discontent. The Chinese government has blocked images and mentions of Winnie the Pooh on social media because Internet users have been using the character to mock CCP general secretary Xi Jinping. This is part of a larger effort to restrict bloggers from getting around censorship in China. The government is not only concerned with avoiding the ridicule of its leaders but also with preventing the character from becoming an online euphemism for the Communist Party's general secretary.

Cultural impact

In October 2019, Pooh was featured in the '' South Park'' episode "

Band in China "Band in China" is the second episode of the twenty-third season of the American animated television series '' South Park''. The 299th episode overall of the series, it premiered on Comedy Central in the United States on October 2, 2019. The epis ...

" because of his alleged resemblance with Xi. In the episode, Pooh is brutally killed by

Randy Marsh Randall Gilbert Marsh (born April 8, 1949) is an American former umpire in Major League Baseball who worked in the National League from 1981 to 1999 and throughout both major leagues from 2000 to 2009. Marsh wore the uniform number 30. Major Lea ...

. ''South Park'' was banned in China as a result of the episode. On March 21, 2023, movie distributor VII Pillars Entertainment announced on Facebook that '' Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey'', originally scheduled to be released on March 23, would be cancelled for release in the Hong Kong and Macau regions. This move is suspected to be influenced by the amendment of Hong Kong's film censorship regulations in 2021, which prohibits the public screening of movies that are deemed "potentially harmful to national security". However, VII Pillars Entertainment did not provide any explanation for the decision. On 8 April 2023, the Taiwanese Air Force released an image of a Taiwanese pilot. The pilot was wearing a shoulder patch depicting a

Formosan black bear The Formosan black bear (臺灣黑熊, ''Ursus thibetanus formosanus''), also known as the Taiwanese black bear or white-throated bear, is a subspecies of the Asiatic black bear. It was first described by Robert Swinhoe in 1864. Formosan black ...

punching Winnie the Pooh. The badge was designed by Alec Hsu in 2022. After the photo went viral, Mr. Hsu ordered more patches due to its popularity with civilians and the military alike. “I wanted to boost the morale of our troops through designing this patch,” he told the media. The patch is not an official part of the Taiwanese Air Force's uniform however the military "will maintain an open attitude" to things that raise morale.

References

External links

Why a horror film starring Winnie the Pooh has run into trouble in Hong Kong
, by Vanessa Romo (), published by

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...