THE Chinese Communist Party does not go up against America’s mightiest heroes very often. But this month the latest Avengers film starring comic-book superheroes hit Chinese cinemas within days of “Mr Deng goes to Washington”, a documentary on a different kind of superpower alliance—Deng Xiaoping’s nine-day trip to America just after the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1979. The Avengers strive to save humans from extinction, whereas Deng must rescue China from poverty. Yet the biopic has diplomatic ambitions too: it seeks to polish the image of China’s relationship with America ahead of Xi Jinping’s first state visit to Washington as Chinese president in September.
The biopic is part of Mr Xi’s campaign to deploy the image of Deng, who ruled China from 1978-1992, to bolster his own position. Last year, for example, a 48-episode drama about Deng was aired on state television. The government did not directly fund the just-released “Mr Deng”, but its author and director, Fu Hongxing, used to run the state-backed China Film Archive. During the editing some of the wider geopolitics was reportedly stripped out. A reference...Continue reading
No comments:
Post a Comment