Aug 4, 2018

China continues war with Winnie the Pooh, will not release Disney's "Christopher Robin"

Disney's new hybrid live-action/cg animation feature Christopher Robin opens in the United States this weekend, but don't expect to see it in China anytime soon. Government authorities in that country have banned the film, according to an exclusive report in The Hollywood Reporter.

Sources told THR that the film concerns Communist authorities because Pooh is often used as a symbol of resistance to the Communist Party, and more specifically, to the country's leader Xi Jinping.

The problem started in 2013, when Chinese people on social media began comparing Xinping to Winnie the Pooh:

The idea of Xinping as a plump bear soon started spreading, and though the country's internet censors quickly deleted all of the images, new images of Xinping as Pooh started popping up.

Last year, Chinese authorities started even more aggressive censorship of Pooh, banning not only images of the character, but also the use of the name “Winnie the Pooh” in social media comments. Attempts to use the word would result in a message window that popped up on people's devices warning that such comments were against Chinese law. The government eventually backed down on its ban on the name Pooh, though images are still restricted online. (Pooh merchandise is sold in the country, as long as it doesn't compare the bear to Xinping.)

The matter remains largely unresolved, and Pooh has emerged as a symbol of resistance against the Chinese government even among the country's political prisoners:

A BBC reporter explained why the comparison of Pooh to Jinping is seen as so worrisome in China.

Though Disney won't be able to spread Pooh in China, Christopher Robin is scheduled to roll out throughout the rest of world over the next few months.