China has issued strict new guidelines banning film and television programs including instances of miracles and healing — a move some fear will outlaw Christian content completely.
According to UCA News, the National Administration of Radio and Television, which controls the content on radio, film, and TV aired in China, recently passed new regulations banning 20 categories of content, including material promoting fabricated history, sacred relics, demonic possessions, and instances of faith and healing.
A filmmaker working with the church’s film and television industry said the new guidelines “almost entirely ban” faith-based content.
The filmmaker, who identified himself as Joseph, told UCA News: “If we film the life of Jesus, avoiding the content banned by the guidelines, we will only be presenting Jesus as an ordinary person, and this is unacceptable to Christians.”
The guidelines also require filmmakers “not to film the dark side of society but to film the good life of normal people” and stipulate that historical dramas should be based on “true history” rather than fabrication.
Father Yo from Shandong called the guidelines “strange” — saying “How can people have a good life when they don’t even have the natural right to freedom of religion? If we do not even have the most basic human rights, how can we be good?”
In 2018, the Communist Party’s propaganda office was put in charge of regulating films.