Aren’t we being a little bit over sensitive???
Sat May 29, 1:07 PM ET
BEIJING (AFP) – China has banned a Swedish-made computer game accused of “distorting history and damaging China’s sovereignty,” by showing Manchuria, Tibet and Xinjiang as independent nations, state press said.
The computer game, “Hearts of Iron”, made by the Stockholm-based games developer Paradox Entertainment, also showed Taiwan as a part of Japan, Xinhua news agency said, citing a censorship committee under the Ministry of Culture.
“All these severely distort historical facts and violate China’s gaming and Internet service regulations,” the ministry said. “The game should be immediately prohibited.”
All websites are banned from releasing the game and copies of the game on CD-ROM will be confiscated. Sellers will be punished, it said.
Internet bars that provide downloads of the game or fail to stop surfers who download, install or play the game, will be fined or even ordered to stop business, it said.
Earlier this year gaming regulators ordered all copies of a Norwegian-made computer game to be pulled off store shelves after alleging it “smeared” China’s national image.
“Project IGI2: Covert Strike” was accused of blackening Beijing and the Chinese army’s image by featuring a freelance mercenary stealing intelligence and conducting sabotage in China.
The mercenary fights in the game are across three linked campaigns in the former Soviet Union, Libya and China.
With the popularity of the Internet, computer games have become a booming industry in China.
In 2002, computer games pulled in earnings of 910 million yuan (110 million dollars), according to a report by state-run television station CCTV’s website.
Analysts predict growth in the industry will be enormous with rising demand and the improvement of the broadband network and domestic game developers.
China’s previous attempts to control burgeoning Internet use has been targeted at politically sensitive messages or essays in online discussions forums, websites and emails.
Yan Sham-Shackleton Online 
Yan,
Should we even be surprised? The problem is that China is particularly sensitive to its claims regarding Tibet and Xinjiang. Xinjiang, after all, was formally annexed to the Qing (Manchu) empire only in 1884 and China’s claim to it may well be somewhat shaky. It’s claim to Tibet is on even more shaky ground since as far as I know there was no effective annexation prior to 1949 and the treaty ceding control of Tibet to China was signed under duress (think of it as an unequal treaty of the same category as the West once imposed on China), and in my belief, the claim is almost baseless.
Until China comes to grips with the shakiness of its claims and the imperial ambition that spawned it, I think we can expect things like this to continue. They’ll never really be able to deal with it until they stop trying to run from it, until they look the Tibetans and the Uyghurs in the eyes and explain why Xinjiang and Tibet — colonial possessions in a Chinese empire — were seized and colonized, they’ll be like this. They’re engaged in a policy of collective amnesia.
P.S. This comment may be a rather politically controversial, and I’ll understand if you delete it. -Lashlar.
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Delete it? But you’re right! So until I get more than a few threatenning phone calls telling me how great my family is. I think it will remain. π
Yan
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