China avoids dialects on film, TV http://www.cbc.ca/arts/tv/story/2009/07/20/china-dialects-film.html
Concerned over the increasing use of dialects, China's broadcasting watchdog has ordered film and TV productions to be performed in Mandarin. In a statement released last week, the Chinese government has demanded that dialogue in TV dramas, children's shows and its screen portrayals of Chinese leaders must be performed in standard Mandarin dialect, according to Variety. "This production trend is inconsistent with our country's spirit of promoting Putonghua [Mandarin]," said spokesman Zhu Hong from the State of Administration of Radio, Film, and Television. "Under normal circumstances, non-standard Mandarin and dialects should not be used. Major revolutionary and historical-themed television dramas, children's TV series, as well as propaganda education TV series and so on must use Mandarin; leaders appearing in TV series also must use Mandarin," Hong said. The provisions have already been in place but broadcasters have largely ignored them. In 2005, the Chinese government issued a notice to change the language of TV and film to Mandarin in an attempt to promote uniformity. The ruling presents a challenge in regards to the accurate portrayals of political leaders. Former chairman Mao Zedong, who spoke Hunanese, and architect Deng Xiaoping from Sichuan, for example, both have strong regional accents. China is home to dozens of different dialects. Recently, the government has tried to standardize the use of Mandarin, a dialect spoken largely in northern China and Beijing. An exemption has been made for Cantonese operas that can only be performed in Cantonese. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to tvornottv@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to tvornottv-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
