Even before its premiere, the film Lady of the Dynasty, starring big name stars such as Fan Bingbing, had successfully built a name for itself nationwide after a sex scene featuring the two main characters having sex on a running horse leaked onto the Internet. Possibly too hot for censors, this leaked scene, however, didn't appear in the final cut that appeared in theaters on July 30.
Dubbed as Fifty Shades of Grey in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) by some netizens, the film challenged China's film review board's tolerance towards sex scenes in a film. However, while many audiences don't feel surprised at all that the final version didn't feature the racy scene, provocative sex scenes have actually appeared in a number of films in China and even helped these films leave a deep impression on audiences' minds.
In fact two decades ago, cinemas screens saw many bold sex scenes that took place in unusual places such as the bottom of a well, a dyehouse or a sorghum field. More recently starlet Fan rose to popularity, in part, due to the marketability of sex. In the popular 2003 film Cell Phone, Fan and the leading male character (played by Ge You) have sex in a car in a stimulating love scene that became a huge topic of discussion at the time and contributed greatly to the film's popularity.
Although the government's policy towards sex scenes have loosened and tightened over the years, these tantalizing scenes have yet to be completely removed and remain an important part of film.
Make love not war
The 1981 film Corners that Have Been Forgotten by Love is the first film after the founding of the PRC to show women naked. After that, a number of films and TV shows featured clothed or highly-exposed sex scenes that were not censored. The period between the 1980s and 1990s was a golden age for sex scenes in Chinese films, with some even becoming film classics almost solely due to scenes featuring sex.
In the 1987 film Red Sorghum, directed by Zhang Yimou, the scene in which the lead characters have sex on a sorghum field was so exciting that it became the most famous sex scene in China's modern film history. The government's tolerance at that time far exceeded what we can imagine today.
Just as French philosopher Michel Foucault (1926-84) pointed out in his History of Sexuality, taboos about sex are always connected with power. Young people during different time periods have tended to strike out in different directions to express their dissatisfaction about certain aspects of society. The most typical example was the sex liberation movement in the US during the 1960. In China, the sex scenes seen in many films are also the products of such a rebellion.
Human nature
Besides political reasons, sex scenes were powerful means to show a character's inner feelings in a film. Film critic Ai Xiaoke spoke highly of the sex scenes in director Ang Lee's 2007 film Lust, Caution, a film that featured sex so heavily it was not allowed to be shown in the Chinese mainland. According to Ai, the strong sexual acts between the leading characters were reflections of their inner struggles with hatred, pain and a doomed love affair. The strong psychological conflict between sensibility and personal lust was played out in each act of sex and the understated tears of the female lead (played by Tang Wei) afterwards.
The symbolic sex scenes in Lust, Caution were highly praised and the film won the Golden Horse Award in Taiwan and the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2007.
Future grading system
In March of 2008, the then State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued its strictest policy on sex ever. The policy stated that scenes featuring an inordinate interest in sex, prostitution or vulgar sex-related acts would not be permitted in films.
Huang Weiqun, an official with the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, explained that normally the watchdog's policy is meant to take aim at clothed or simulated sex scenes that could have an unhealthy psychological impact on audiences. As for sex scenes that are necessary to support a film's story, while adults may have the maturity to deal with such scenes, they are inappropriate for the younger moviegoers that make up a large part of audiences.
"Among the total 162 million netizens in the country, 70 percent of them are under the age 30 and 50 percent are under 25. Students account for nearly one third," said Huang. "Audiences in this age group lack the ability to make independent judgements about these types of scenes and could be easily led to try and imitate them."
With the roller coaster ride that is the government's policy on what sex scenes can appear in film, many voices have begun calling for the introduction of a film ratings system similar to that seen overseas. Many believe that such a system would provide a much more meaningful and effective means of protection that a simple cut-off policy.