Difference between revisions of "China Central Television (CCTV)"
m |
|||
| Line 37: | Line 37: | ||
{{reflist}} | {{reflist}} | ||
| − | |||
[[Category: Black Racism in Skit]] | [[Category: Black Racism in Skit]] | ||
Revision as of 09:51, 7 January 2021
China Central Television (CCTV) is the national flagship terrestrial television network of the People's Republic of China. It broadcasts a range of programs from China Central Television Headquarters at East 3rd Ring Road in Beijing and is available to both cable and terrestrial television viewers.[1]
CCTV was established on 1 May 1958 to be a state-owned news and public opinion steering agency, acting as a mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party. CCTV has a variety of functions, such as news communication, social education, culture, and entertainment information services. As a state television station it is responsible to both the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council.[2]
CCTV has a network of 50 channels broadcasting different programmes and is accessible to more than one billion viewers in six different languages. Most of its programmes are a mixture of news, documentary, social education, comedy, entertainment, and drama, the majority of which consists of Chinese soap operas and entertainment.
In 2018 CCTV New Year’s Gala – also known as the Spring Festival Gala – an annual variety show broadcast for the Lunar New Year has drawn global criticism for its offensive caricatures and a story line about Africans’ admiration for China.
Plot
The controversial skit, set in Kenya, begins with an African-themed dance set to "Waka Waka" (This Time for Africa) by Colombian singer Shakira. Dark skinned men and "animals" dancing to the song like African.
In the New Year’s skit, the Chinese-built railway linking Mombasa and Nairobi has just opened, and a railway trainer, played by the gala’s Chinese co-host, compliments a group of African train attendants on their command of Chinese.
The trainer explains that he’s to marry his Chinese fiancée later that day, but a young African woman — another train attendant — ropes him into pretending they’re in love to get out of a blind date set up by her mother, played by Chinese actress Lou Naiming, who appears in blackface as a Kenyan mother trying to find a husband for her young daughter.
When the groom’s older brother arrives, he cracks a joke about African transportation. “When I got off the plane, I rented an African public bike [a giraffe],” his brother said, pointing to an actor dressed as a giraffe.
When the trainer’s Chinese bride arrives, the African attendant is forced to tell her mother that she lied to get out of the blind date.[3]
Why is it Controversial?
The skit, which was apparently intended to celebrate China’s relationship with African countries, came during the 2018 edition of the CCTV New Year’s Gala – also known as the Spring Festival Gala – an annual variety show broadcast for the Lunar New Year that gets as many as 800 million viewers.[4]
The 13-minute segment has caused anger online for using a Chinese actor dressed in blackface and giant fake buttocks to depict an African character. This skit also featured several dozen African actors, a Chinese co-host, and several actors were also dressed as animals, including an actor from Cote d’Ivoire in a monkey costume.[5]
Backlash
The skit drew a prompt backlash on social media, with viewers in and out of China expressing astonishment and disgust. Hansi Lo Wang, a correspondent with National Public Radio (NPR), called out the racial stereotypes. "Happy Lunar New Year! China’s most-watched TV event kicked it off with blackface & racial stereotypes in a skit about a worker for a Chinese-built railway in Kenya trying to get out of a blind date!"[6]
Even a Chinese citizen herself express her disgust to the skit by tweeting, "CCTV’s racist show during Spring Gala shook me and made me so ashamed of China and my people. They literally had blackface on stage, had an African actor to play a monkey and a African actress yelling “I love China!” Racism is global y’all..."[7]
External Link
Watch the video at Youtube
13 minutes video at Youtube
References
- ↑ TV Chinese. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
- ↑ China Central Television. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
- ↑ Solomon, Salem. Chinese New Year Skit Sparks Backlash Over Relationship with Africa, VOA, 18 February 2018. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
- ↑ Wilkinson, James. ‘Racist’ Chinese Spring Festival Gala TV show causes uproar over ‘blackface and big bottoms’, South China Morning Post scmp.com, 16 February 2018. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
- ↑ Solomon, Salem. Chinese New Year Skit Sparks Backlash Over Relationship with Africa, VOA, 18 February 2018. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
- ↑ Hansi Lo Wang Twitter. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
- ↑ Huizit Twitter. Retrieved December 25, 2020.


