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BEIJING, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese movie star Chow Yun-Fat's role in "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" has been slashed in half by censors in China for vilifying and defacing the Chinese and insulting Singapore.

The film, which was released on the mainland early this week, shows only about 10 minutes of Chow's scenes while in the Hollywood version his scenes take up about 20 minutes of the film.

One of the scenes that was cut involved Captain Sao Feng reciting a famous Chinese poem to the heroine who he falls in love with at first sight.

Zhang Pimin, deputy head of the film bureau under the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), told Xinhua that the decision to cut Chow's and other scenes was made according to the country's "relevant regulations on film censorship" and "China's actual conditions."

The cuts "will not impair either the continuity of plot or the image of characters," added Zhang, who refused to provide specific reasons for the cuts.

The Popular Cinema, a nationally circulated magazine was critical of Chow's role. "The captain played by Chow is bald, his face heavily scarred, he also wears a long beard and long nails. This image is still in line with Hollywood's tradition of demonizing the Chinese."

Chinese censors also cut Chow's line in which he states "Welcome to Singapore" because it suggests Singapore is a land of pirates and has already attracted protests from Singaporean people.

The magazine said that this has not been the first time there have been protests against Hollywood because of its unacceptable depiction of local people. Mexico and France have even issued bans against offensive U.S. movies from screening in domestic cinemas, said the magazine without providing examples.

"Hollywood increasingly relies on international box offices for profits as its domestic market has been over saturated, so it's very natural for major studios to hire famed international actors to lure foreign audiences," the magazine said. In 2005, U.S. movies pulled in 8.99 billion U.S. dollars on the domestic market, and 14.25 billion U.S. dollars in the rest of the world.

"Its lack of understanding of local cultures has been a constant source of disputes across the world," it added.

The cuts have caused some audience members in China to complain about the storyline.

"The cut has made the plot and the role of Captain Sao Feng difficult to understand," said a viewer You Hui. Many viewers also expressed similar opinions on the Internet.

"I really didn't appreciate the film and I have no clue what they are talking about," wrote one movie-goer on the popular website sina.com.cn on Wednesday. "Maybe its become unintelligible because of the cuts."

"I could clearly sense a considerable number of scenes of Chow Yun-Fat had been slashed," another viewer posted his comment on Thursday.

Another netizen added that "With 15 minutes deleted from Chow's scenes, Captain Sao Feng no longer serves his role as a thread running through the film."

Some, however, had voiced different opinion on the cut as one netizan said "I assure you, you will still find the film fascinating despite the slashes."

Chow has starred in "Curse of the Golden Flower", "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Anna and the King."

"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" has been well received by the Chinese movie-goers since its release, according to Zhang, the deputy head of the film bureau under the SARFT. "It is hoped that 'Pirates' will beat 'Spiderman 3' at the box-office."

"Pirates" raked in 1.18 million yuan (153,000 U.S. dollars) on the first day of its release in Shanghai.

"Spiderman 3", released on May 2 on China's mainland, has raked in more than 100 million yuan (12.99 million U.S. dollars), topping China's domestic movie box office so far this year.
Teraz czekam, aż protestować zaczną Brytyjczycy. Przecież Kompanii Wschodnioindyjskiej nie można bezkarnie ukazywać jako instytucji zbrodniczej i pazernej! Toż to sugeruje, że Wielka Brytania to kraj chciwców i zbrodniarzy! Demonizowanie Brytyjczyków stało się już hollywoodzką tradycją. Ktoś musi położyć temu procederowi kres!