“Matrix” or “Speed” could no longer be found on Baidu’s largest service Iqiyi or Tencent’s QQ video on Saturday. China’s censorship apparently took issue with his appearance at a concert by the New York organization Tibet House, which is backed by the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan religious leader. For example, a search for Reeve’s Chinese name “Jinu Liweisi” on Iqiyi no longer returned any hits: “Some results are not displayed due to relevant laws, regulations and politics”, followed a note that the search “unfortunately” did not return any results. The fact that the 57-year-old is falling out of favor with China’s censors doesn’t bode well for the star’s future film projects in Hollywood. Production companies are increasingly tailoring new films specifically for the world’s largest film market in China, where political authorities decide what is allowed in cinemas.
opaque system
It is unclear who gave the order to ban Reeves from China. “The system is so opaque that it’s pretty much impossible to pinpoint exactly which agency or person is responsible,” censorship expert Alex Yu from the US organization China Digital Times told the Los Angeles Times first reported about it. Reeves read a poem at the concert on March 3, which was only online again because of Corona. Also in attendance were Hollywood composer Philip Glass, singers Cyndie Lauper and Patti Smith, and “Godfather of Punk” Iggy Pop.
Hollywood stars like Richard Gere and Lady Gaga had fallen out of favor in communist China because of their sympathy for the Dalai Lama or their commitment to Tibet. Like the Uighurs in neighboring Xinjiang, many Tibetans feel politically, culturally and economically oppressed by the ruling Chinese. After the communists seized power in Beijing in 1949 and the People’s Liberation Army invaded Tibet in 1950, the People’s Republic incorporated the highlands as an autonomous region.
Source: Nachrichten
