Lead character of New
Shanghai Bund, played by Chinese mainland actor Huang
Xiaoming, is seen in this scene holding a cigarette. The TV series
have been accused of having too much smoking scenes.
Several Chinese anti-smoking activists are accusing a domestic
TV drama of having too much smoking scenes, and are petitioning the
TV and film supervision watchdog to issue a rating of such
displays.
Members of the Beijing-based non-profit organization, ThinkTank
Research Center for Health Development, on Saturday signed a
petition to the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television
(SARFT), the Beijing News said on Sunday.
The letter says the director of New Shanghai Bund has
made almost every character an addicted smoker and that cigarettes
are "probably the most used prop" in the whole production.
The 42-episode drama is the latest remake of a 1980 classic
which turned Hong Kong actor Chow Yun-Fat into a star. It revolves
around a group of gangland mobsters in 1930s Shanghai.
The remake reported high audience ratings when it was aired on
Beijing TV back in May, and was voted as the most popular TV series
in an earlier survey on popular web portal Sina.com.
ThinkTank Research Center for Health Development, mainly
consisting of medical experts, worries that frequent smoking scenes
in such a highly-popular TV production could mislead young
audience, and suggests a rating should be introduced to reduce
minors' exposure to on-screen smoking.
The petition letter will be presented to the SARFT soon, a
senior member of the organization was quoted as saying.
In fact, an anti-smoking voice has been heard since New
Shanghai Bund debuted on the small screen.
Its director, Gao Xixi, was quoted by previous reports as
arguing that he thought he had done nothing wrong, because there is
no ban or limit on smoking scenes in TV or film.
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(CRI.cn July 16, 2007)
