Missing 'Simpsons' Episode in Hong Kong Fuels Censorship Fears

choi

Dan Strumpf, Missing 'Simpsons' Episode in Hong Kong Fuels Censorship Fears. Wall Street Journal, Nov 30, 2021, at page B4.
https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles ... p-fears-11638182046

Note:
(a)
(i) I type only 25% of the report, There is no need to read the rest (not about the episode but about Disney's financial stakes in China), as the situation is developing.
(ii) The report is translated into Chinese:
Dan Strumpf, 迪士尼在香港上线的《辛普森一家》涉天安门事件一集消失，引发审查担忧. 华尔街日报, Nov 30, 2021.https://cn.wsj.com/articles/迪士尼在香港上线的-辛普森一家-涉天安门事件一集消失-引发审查担忧-11638246336I type only 25% of the report, There is no need to read the rest (not about the episode but about Disney's financial stakes in China), as the situation is developing.
. which displayed the first three paragraphs. You may read the rest after becoming a member(presumably of cn.wsj.com).

(b)
(i) goo goo gai pan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goo_Goo_Gai_Pan
(ii) The title is a word play on moo goo gai pan 蘑菇雞片.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moo_goo_gai_pan

Perhaps because Westerners can not pronounce Cantonese correctly, or more likely the spekking is easier to remember, the Cantonese pronunciation for 蘑菇雞片 is mo (sounding the same as "more" in English) gu gai pin (as an online Cantonese dictionary shows, correctly). However, the "gai" in Cantonese is different from the same in English, which (or, for that matter, Mandarin -- Oxford online English dictionary equates Mandarin and mandarin in reference to a language, as opposed to an official) has no equivalent sound.

--------------------------the first 4 1/4 paragraphs
HONG KONG—The absence of an episode of "The Simpsons" from Walt Disney Co.'s streaming service in Hong Kong is raising concerns about rising censorship in the Chinese territory.

Disney launched its streaming service, Disney+, earlier in November in Hong Kong featuring an array of programming owned by the entertainment giant, including 32 seasons of the animated comedy series.

Yet one episode is missing from "The Simpsons" lineup: Title "Goo Goo Gai Pan," the episode from season 16 centers on a trip to China by the show's namesake family. Along the way they encountered a plaque at Tiananmen Square in Beijing that reads [in English; but spelled not Tiananmen but TIEN AN MEN]: "On this site in 1989, nothing happened."

The episode also features a reference to the iconic "Tank Man" photo, in which a man stands in front of a column of tanks after the military moved in to crush student-led protests on June 4, 1989.

It isn't known if Disney removed the episode under pressure, or whether it decided itself to leave the episode out of its lineup when it launched the Disney+ service in Hong Kong earlier in November. * * *