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Chinese pirates don't care about censorship

7 February 2006 12:40 by James "Dela" Delahunty | 5 comments

The movie "Memoirs of a Geisha", was recently banned in China by the government over fears the movie would spur anti-Japan sentiment because Chinese actresses play Japanese geishas. But how many people know or care that the movie was banned? Pirates are making a mockery of the government's efforts to control what its citizens see by selling copies of it, and pretty much any other banned Hollywood movie, for very cheap prices.

You don't need to venture far to find a seller who has the movie, or who can get it. "It's a good copy," one street vendor said while showing the copies he had available, "Of course it's been banned, but it doesn't really matter. All of my supply is pirated." He added that he had enjoyed the movie immensely and offered it for a mere 7 yuan (about US$0.85). Another man did not have a copy on hand, but said he could get it easily.

"I don't have it in yet, but I should be able to get you a copy in about two days if you like," he offered. This particular man had absolutely no idea that the movie was even banned, and judging by his offer, he doesn't exactly care. These guys simply take orders from people. Pass them a piece of paper with the movie you desire written on it, and within a few days they will have it for you, and for much cheaper than stores will.

"Book City" is the name given to an area of Beijing's university district because you can easily locate textbooks, movies or a great deal of pornography. Most of the people who shop here don't really care about government censorship, or the fact that they are buying pirated copies. "We all just watch pirate copies," said 27-year-old Xiao Wang "And if we can't get them in the stores we can always download them from the Internet."

Source:
Yahoo

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Lethal_B (Moderator) 7 February 2006 13:04
LOL, there are some Chinese guys on the streets of London trying to flog dodgy DVD's. So what hope has a country like China where copyright theft seemingly isn't given a second thought..? [ + quote]
freshguy (Member) 7 February 2006 15:35
Quote: LOL, there are some Chinese guys on the streets of London trying to flog dodgy DVD's. That's an interesting mental image. I wonder if they're flogging a modern-day "The Werewolf Of London"? That could definitely cost them a timeout in the loo. LOL. It still is probably more wise than to do that in Sydney where someone would probably chuck a wobbly, for sure.:) http://profiles.excite.com/profiles/user_profile.jsp?unme=notsost... [ + quote]
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 7 February 2006 22:36
Quote: These guys simply take orders from people. Pass them a piece of paper with the movie you desire written on it, and within a few days they will have it for you, and for much cheaper than stores will. LOL!!! Now if everything in the world was as simple as that :) Love China :) [ + quote]
zrdb (Member) 12 February 2006 7:55
I'm an anime fanatic and if it weren't for hk anime dvds I wouldn't have any where near the collection that I do now. I don't take sides in an argument about the legality of it-my attitude is that if they are there to be purchased and it's and item I want-I'll buy it. [ + quote]
Jamzbond (Senior Member) 13 February 2006 12:17
They are great businessmen/women. The immigrants in my country are hard working and start their own businesses within a few years of arriving to work for their employer. They have a kinship among them which is really strong and often trade large sums of goods and services using a bartering method. And yes they are wizards at circumventing the law. Got a large population of Indian immigrants here with similar traits. Tread carefully here........lest you step on a ban mine I always reserve the right to be wrong Quote: If something doesn't kill you then you learn from it,....if it does kill you then I'll learn from it Excellent Windows freeware at http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/264081 Guide for Wired Windows Networking http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/284452 Guide for Soldering http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/264172 Guide for Installing Memory Module /RAM Chip http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/237772 Guide to connect PC to ordinary external speakers http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/260326 Guide for Video/Graphics Card Installation http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/262255 [ + quote]