James Delahunty
7 Feb 2006 12:40
The movie "Memoirs of a Geisha", was recently banned in China by the government over fears the movie would spur anti-Japan sentiment because Chinese actresses play Japanese geishas. But how many people know or care that the movie was banned? Pirates are making a mockery of the government's efforts to control what its citizens see by selling copies of it, and pretty much any other banned Hollywood movie, for very cheap prices.
You don't need to venture far to find a seller who has the movie, or who can get it. "It's a good copy," one street vendor said while showing the copies he had available, "Of course it's been banned, but it doesn't really matter. All of my supply is pirated." He added that he had enjoyed the movie immensely and offered it for a mere 7 yuan (about US$0.85). Another man did not have a copy on hand, but said he could get it easily.
"I don't have it in yet, but I should be able to get you a copy in about two days if you like," he offered. This particular man had absolutely no idea that the movie was even banned, and judging by his offer, he doesn't exactly care. These guys simply take orders from people. Pass them a piece of paper with the movie you desire written on it, and within a few days they will have it for you, and for much cheaper than stores will.
"Book City" is the name given to an area of Beijing's university district because you can easily locate textbooks, movies or a great deal of pornography. Most of the people who shop here don't really care about government censorship, or the fact that they are buying pirated copies. "We all just watch pirate copies," said 27-year-old Xiao Wang "And if we can't get them in the stores we can always download them from the Internet."
Source:
Yahoo