Chinese media is notably conservative, so one company’s executives suffered red faces this week when a film banned as pornography in China was accidentally shown on a large LED screen in a public square in Jilin province. The country has tight regulations controlling which films can be broadcast, including politically sensitive films and some pornographic material.
Before anyone clocked the blunder, Xin Jin Ping Mei (known in English as The Forbidden Legend: Sex and Chopsticks), played to a bemused public audience for around ten minutes. The error apparently came about because one unlucky technician, who was meant to have been servicing the screen, had been watching the film on his computer, without realizing it was connected to the LED screen. No doubt he will be revising his work safety settings in the very near future.
The country has tight regulations controlling which films can be broadcast, including politically sensitive films and some pornographic material.
The technician, identified as Yuan Mou, was only alerted to the error when the advertising company that owns the screen sent him a timely message. According to Chinese media reports, he then unplugged his computer and swiftly threw the disc out of the window to hide the evidence.
Unluckily for him, amused passers by had taken the opportunity to film and share the slip online, resulting in a viral embarrassment for the hapless repair man. Police investigations are currently underway.
The general public is nonplussed by the furor. One Microblogger commented, “It’s not broadcasting a sex tape of one of our officials, what’s the big fuss?”.
