It appears that not only China has an issue with Marvel Studio’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings which has yet to have a release date in the mainland but also its lead actor Simu Liu.
Liu, who plays the titular character in the Asian-led superhero movie has been accused of insulting China after pro-China online forum Diba shared screenshots of a video interview he did for the 150th anniversary of Canada in 2017.
The 32-year-old Chinese-Canadian shared in the interview how his parents would tell him about the living conditions when they were in China, as reported by 8days.sg.
“When I was young, my parents would tell me these stories about growing up in communist China. They lived in the Third World, where you have people dying of starvation. And they felt that Canada is a place where they can live freely and give their child a better future,” recounted the Harbin-born Liu, who moved to Canada with his parents when he was five.
Not surprisingly, the remarks did not sit well with Chinese netizens who accused Liu of “insulting China”.
“If that’s the case, why does he still want to act as a Chinese?” asked one netizen, while another wrote: “Has he thought that many years later, he would have to come to China to grovel?”
Some netizens also said that it was a good thing that Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings have not been approved to be released in China. The movie has been snubbed in China athough it is seen as a milestone for Asian representation in Hollywood.
And though there is no official explanation as to why the film is not being released in China, speculation is rife that the country’s censors have taken issue with the racist origins of the Shang-Chi comic book.
Tony Leung’s villainous Wenwu (originally named the Mandarin) was believed to be inspired by Dr Fu Manchu, a fictional character that’s now considered a racist Chinese caricature. /TISG