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"Empress of China" temporarily halted

"Empress of China" temporarily halted

29 Dec – China's Hunan TV recently halted the broadcast of Fan Bingbing's period drama, "Empress of China", citing 'technical reason' as an excuse. However, many speculated that the series' racy scenes may have something to do with it.

According to ECNS News, on 27 December, the broadcasting station announced on its official Weibo account that the series has been halted for a while and will be aired again on 1 January 2015.

Though no details have been revealed about the pause, many believed that the series' racy scenes and revealing costumes may have irked China's State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT).

Back in November, the censorship board has issued a notice, calling for video website to remove headlines with texts or pictures that refer to sex and nudity. It also calls for the deletion of programmes depicting scandals, extra-marital affairs, sexual abuse, and pornographic contents, as well as rape, prostitution, necrophilia and many others.

The big budget drama, which chronicles the life of Empress Wu Zetian, has been stirring discussions about its elaborate and cleavage-barring costumes and racy scenes since day one.

Meanwhile, others believe that the temporary halt was caused by SAPPRFT-imposed quota on historical dramas.