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China gushes praise on Ang Lee, cuts Taiwan mention

Posted on: Monday, 6 March 2006, 23:30 CST

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese media heaped praise on Tuesday on Taiwan-born Ang Lee over his best director Oscar for "Brokeback Mountain," but state media cut the part of his speech in which he thanks everyone in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong.

Beijing regards Taiwan as sovereign territory and censors any reference to the self-ruled island which suggests it is not part of "one China." Hong Kong returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997.

"Ang Lee uses Chinese to say thank you at the Oscars," read a banner caption on the front page of the Beijing Youth Daily.

State television also cut Lee's words of thanks to the two gay cowboys at the heart of the film. Homosexuality was considered a mental disorder in China until as recently as 2001 and is still a highly sensitive subject.

"Ang Lee is the pride of the Chinese people all over the world, and he is the glory of Chinese cinematic talent," the China Daily gushed.

But the state-run paper failed to report that "Brokeback Mountain" would not be coming to Chinese theatres and is only viewable on pirated DVD.

The movie was not included on the short list of foreign films the government approved for domestic cinemas this year, a move short of an outright ban.

Lee's international breakthrough film, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," which took the 2001 Oscars for best foreign language film, cinematography, art direction and music, did poorly at the Chinese box office was widely panned by the country's critics and moviegoers as pandering to Western audiences.

Source: REUTERS

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