Box office frauds, poor quality of films, controversial choices on actor and actresses, censorship - all these problems have been bugging China's booming film industry along with the rising box office numbers.
After a long discussion, a national law was finally passed to regulate China's film industry.
The Film Industry Promotion Law was approved at the 24th session of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee on Monday in Beijing.
As the first law for China's film industry, it contains new rules that will affect the domestic industry and co-productions with foreign film organizations.
Chinese film companies are allowed to make co-productions with foreign companies after approval by the film bureau. However, any co-production containing anything that will harm the dignity, honor and interests of the State, harm the stability of society, and hurt the feelings of the people is not allowed, neither is hiring any individual who has engaged in such behavior.
The rule was made after several cases with controversial cast in films.
Most recent is a documentary by China Central Television, The Long March That Shook The World with the depiction of the brave and historical event of the Long March of the Red Army of China's Communist Party.
It also triggered wide criticism as the production team had hired actress Bai Ling, a Chinese American who had anti-China opinions and was involved in many films that were anti-Party when she was working in Hollywood. Many believe hiring an actress with such misdeeds in this documentary is a humiliation to the those soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country.
Simplified censorship
Another change is the simplified censorship system.
Before the new law, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) had the right of censoring films, recording and approving film scripts and approving organizing film festivals. Now the SAPPRFT is passing that right down to provincial and municipal administrations.
It also simplifies the process of censoring, regulates the procedure of setting film censorship standards, and makes transparent, to avoid the difference between the national level and local level.
The vice director of the SAPPRFT, Yan Xiaohong, said at a press conference on Monday that streamlining administration, delegating power to the lower levels and activating the market is an important way to speed up the reform of China's film industry.
The film law listed that any fraud at box office will face severe punishment.
Last year, hits like Monster Hunt and Ip Man 3 were all found to have defrauded their box office numbers. Now the law lists it specifically that "those who didn't provide real data on sales will be required to be corrected by film bureaus above county level and pay a fine between 50,000 ($7,394) and 500,000 yuan; and those who have fraudulent income of over 500,000 yuan will face twofold to fivefold fine."
Besides those, the law also required that the screening time of domestic films should not be less than 2/3 of all films, in order to boost the development of domestic films. Meanwhile, charitable screening in rural areas will be sponsored by the government.
Reform benefits
"The law will carry forward the direction of the reform of China's film industry in the past 14 years, prevent possibilities of degeneration and protect what we have achieved so far," wrote Yin Hong, professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University on his personal Weibo account.
He believed if it was not for the reform, China's film industry would not have come so far.
Many industry insiders also believe it is a good sign for the industry.
Chen Changye, editor-in-chief of Yiyu Guancha, a media focusing on film industry, told the Global Times that although there were many regulations for film industry before, "this law is promulgated at a higher level, which means more importance has been attached to this industry."
However, both of the experts expressed regret that a rating system is not included in the law.
China's industry insiders, including renowned director Feng Xiaogang, have been calling for a rating system for years to better protect children as well as giving more freedom of creation to filmmakers.
"I'm quite disappointed with this," said Chen.
Another problem that has been a barrier for China's film industry development is piracy. Although many illegal sites have been closed in recent years, new ones keep popping up.
Pirated versions of hit film Mojin-The Lost Legend were available online the next day of its release in cinemas in December 2015.
How to protect the intellectual property of filmmakers and punish piracy is still not covered by the law.
