China gushes praise on Ang Lee, cuts Taiwan mention

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.