China Censored ‘Nomadland’ Director Chloé Zhao’s Historic Oscar Wins
By Hoai-Tran Bui/April 26, 2021 11:00 am EST
According to The New York Times, the Chinese government has imposed censors online for any and all discussions of Zhao’s historic Oscar wins. Per the report, Chinese social media platforms have been deleting articles and posts about the Oscars and Zhao, “forcing many internet users and fans to use homonyms and wordplay to evade the censors.” Commenters have resorted to blurring out her name and the film’s title, writting them backwards, flipping images, and adding slashes between characters just to post about Zhao’s win without being deleted. Additionally, reporters at state-controlled news outlets were allegedly told not to cover the Oscars.
So why this government-led campaign against Zhao? You would think China would eagerly laud the filmmaker, who was born in Beijing and whose father is known as one of the country’s top steel industry executives. Despite Zhao’s career in the States, she retains her Chinese citizenship.
As for Zhao, she hasn’t spoken about this apparent targeted campaign against her by the CCP. In her acceptance speech for Best Director, she paid tribute to her Chinese roots, citing a line from a 13th-century classical text that she had memorized as a child growing up in China: “People at birth are inherently good.”
