Why rebirth and time travel cdramas are banned/not produced in China

Just FYI for people asking why transmigration/reborn cdramas are banned. This was like 10+ years ago, but transmigration/rebirth dramas were banned because of two smash hits in the early 2010's that involved rebirth (Scarlet heart and The palace: Lock heart jade), leading to a Chinese women apparently committing suicide in the hopes of being reborn. Thus China banned it out of fear of people potentially committing suicide hoping to be reborn as shown/glorified in cdramas. They feared  hit cdramas showing rebirth might lead to people committing suicide in hopes of also being reborn. As for time travel it was banned because the state governing body over radio, film and television in china stated it distorted/disrespected Chinese history, and historical figures, and warned against making such films. Thus, to not get on the bad side of the governing body, these cdramas were not made as much anymore. This is all based on what happened in the early 2010's, not sure if there have been any recent changes or anything to guidelines/laws but these were the original reasons why. I posted this in the comments but thought I would also post it in discussions for future reference for people interested. Btw, I use the term banned, but at least in regards to what is discussed above, wasn't a full on ban but the state governing body said they frowned upon and tried to dissuade such cdramas, thus to not get not heir bad side most producers stop making such cdramas. Not sure if there have been anybrecent regulation or law changes though, this wa just what happened originally. 

 arpar:

Chinese women apparently committing suicide in the hopes of being reborn. Thus China banned it out of fear of people potentially committing suicide

Has this really happened? Why do people get so caught up in all this drama! 

 arpar:

distorted/disrespected Chinese history, and historical figures, and warned against making such films.

At least from what I’ve seen and heard, the Chinese censor board is actually one of the most responsible in the world. They genuinely care about the well-being of their citizens and the preservation of their heritage and history. Unlike some other censor boards, they don’t simply wash their hands of responsibility by saying things like, "This is purely for entertainment purposes and bears no connection to any living or deceased person; any resemblance is purely coincidental. Creative liberties have been taken.” 

thanks for good information . 

 ASTER:

Has this really happened? Why do people get so caught up in all this drama! 

At least from what I’ve seen and heard, the Chinese censor board is actually one of the most responsible in the world. They genuinely care about the well-being of their citizens and the preservation of their heritage and history. Unlike some other censor boards, they don’t simply wash their hands of responsibility by saying things like, "This is purely for entertainment purposes and bears no connection to any living or deceased person; any resemblance is purely coincidental. Creative liberties have been taken.” 

thanks for good information . 

agree with you, that's why i only watch Cdramas

You can’t kill yourself to be reborn in a drama. You obviously can only be hit by a white truck. 

 wybestboy:

Why do you mean when you said it's about promotion?

 wybestboy:

Why do you mean when you said it's about promotion?

China's policy is " don't ask, don't promote, don't interfere", more or less. China is NOT homophobic, they don't ban BL or others. The don't mind them at all. The only requirement is that they should be socially acceptable. Unless you don't create fuss,  you can do what you want in private.
The problem with BL is mostly fans, behaving like the actors are real homosexual pairs, harassing them, stalking them and so on. And more, they don't like explicit content at visual level.
Every BL drama has problems with fans in China, starting with Addicted and then Untamed with 227 incident.
Recently, Justice in the dark actors had his wife harassed and badmouthed because he went to see the other actor in his show on Beijing Opera. 

 ElBee:

The current BLs that are being released now are only airing internationally; they are still banned in China from all I’ve read. We can watch it, but without using software to essentially break Chinese law, people in mainland China cannot.

oooo, did not know that! Thank you for clarifying. I really appreciate the insider info.

 Houda:

Hello! Can I please ask a question, in dramas like Story of kunning palace and The princess royal, wasn't that a rebirth? Where the leads went back in time after their deaths? Then how come these tropes have been banned for years? 

Hey no problem, I believe there's a difference between time travel and rebirth/transmigration. I believe there are much stricter guidelines and bans regarding people actually being reborn but time travel is more allowed. I believe that what it is. So sometimes dramas can use time travel rather than being completely reborn, specifically in a new body. I believe that what it is. 

But we have many Rebirth dramas at this point. Full length dramas. For example Story of Kunning Palace, Blossom, Si Jin, The Princess Royal, Lost Track of Time, and etc. Many short dramas also have Rebirth themes.

Maybe the censorship already changed their rules. After 2021/2022 there so many Chinese dramas about "Rebirth".

Yes SOKP inserted "novel writer" in the beginning + the ending to avoid censorship. But how about the other dramas? 

The Princess Royal only let ML and FL said/questioned the situations to themselves like "Is this a dream? Why i am going back to my youth?". But the statement is only for ep 1. And the ending, they said, "if this is a dream, i wanna live in this dream forever." Something like that. It's a soft move and unnoticeable. Because many real ppl in this world also talked to themselves like that if something good is happening unexpectedly.

For Si Jin and Lost Track of Time, there is no opening or ending that indicate this is just a dream or story in fictional world. It just ended the story like other costume dramas.

For Blossom, also, there is no opening and ending about "dream or book story" as well. They wrapped the story with complete happy ending like other costume dramas.