No "time travel" in China - at least on television

by Salman Hameed

And here is an example of a government going a bit looney. It seems that Chinese government has issued new guidelines that discourages plots of time travel, along with mythical stories or bizarre plots, etc etc. I would have been okay if they banned Back to the Future III - but the first two are quite decent. Ditto for Terminator. I guess it will also take out much of Star Trek and most of any form of science fiction. But I fear that even Being John Malkovich - one my favorite films from the 90's - may even get the axe because of its bizarre plot :)

Wait a minute. I saw this story on CNN. Lets make sure that they did not pick this story up from the Onion or a similar website in China.

In any case, here is CNN:

New guidelines issued on March 31 discourages plot lines that contain elements of "fantasy, time-travel, random compilations of mythical stories, bizarre plots, absurd techniques, even propagating feudal superstitions, fatalism and reincarnation, ambiguous moral lessons, and a lack of positive thinking."

“The government says … TV dramas shouldn’t have characters that travel back in time and rewrite history. They say this goes against Chinese heritage,” reports CNN’s Eunice Yoon. “They also say that myth, superstitions and reincarnation are all questionable.”

Well, true - but did they not read any fairy tales or other fantasies while growing up? I think they have to resolve some personal issues and they are taking out their revenge on pop-culture. C'mon - at least leave sci-fi alone!

Read the full story here.