Winnie the Pooh is tubby. The totalitarian dictator of China, Xi Jinping, is tubby. Their respective contours are similar enough that references to Winnie the Pooh have served as a sly way to insult the dictator in response to China’s ardent censorship of criticism of the dictator and his regime.
The stratagem is not so sly, however, that the Chinazi leadership was unable to quickly figure out what was going on, provoking China’s censors to spring into action. But it is hard to outlaw images of Winnie the Pooh altogether.
It is easier to outlaw screenings of movies that include Winnie the Pooh. According to a March 2023 article in Fortune:
Public screenings of a slasher film that features Winnie the Pooh [“Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey”] were scrapped abruptly in Hong Kong on Tuesday, sparking discussions over increasing censorship in the city….
For many residents, the Winnie the Pooh character is a playful taunt of China’s President Xi Jinping and Chinese censors in the past had briefly banned social media searches for the bear in the country. In 2018, the film “Christopher Robin,” also featuring Winnie the Pooh, was reportedly denied a release in China.
China has reneged on its agreement to let Hong Kong be a lot freer than mainland China for at least another quarter century, and cultural incarnations of Winnie the Pooh are one of the areas where it is clamping down.
The proper response is obvious. From now on, all moviemakers and distributors must make sure that every single movie, from minor arthouse film to major international blockbuster, one way or another includes Winnie the Pooh, if only on a character’s coffee cup.
