Chinese Propaganda Movie Gloats About Capture of Seoul During Korean War
If the Japanese made such a film that gloats about marching into Seoul I am willing to bet the reaction from South Korea would be much different. However, since it is China making a film gloating about marching into Seoul I bet there will hardly be any notice:
A teaser for a patriotic film that features Chinese veterans of the Korean war has ignited controversy in China and revived debate over the country’s controversial role in the deadly conflict six decades ago. It has also triggered calls on Chinese social media to boycott My War, by Hong Kong director Oxide Pang and due to premiere on Thursday, as some internet users said the film treated poorly historical facts of the war that killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers from China and more from the two Koreas, which remain divided and hostile to each other.
The two-minute teaser shows a group of elderly Chinese tourists on a bus in Seoul as a young Korean tour guide welcomes them on their first trip to South Korea’s capital city.
An old lady interrupts, telling the guide they had visited before in the past.
“Lady, we came here before, about 60 years ago,” an old man says.
“We held the Chinese flag and came here,” another man explains.
The tour guide, wearing traditional Korean dress, looks puzzled, asking how they would hold the Chinese flag in Seoul.
The tourists tell the guide she will realise how they did so after she sees My War.
“Resist US aggression and aid Korea, protect our home and defend our country,” the tourists chant at the end of the teaser.
The slogan is widely used in Communist propaganda to describe China’s role in coming to North Korea’s aid in 1950, resulting in the deaths of between 149,000 and 400,000 Chinese soldiers. [South China Morning Post via a reader tip]
You can read the rest at the link, but if someone made that such comments to me I would have responded if they brought their Chinese flag back with him when they ran with their tails between their legs out of the city from the United Nations forces?
Anyway here is a Youtube clip of the movie’s controversial promotion video:
Not just because it is chinese point of view but also a massive disconnect. South Koreans do not necessarily view communist occupation of Seoul fondly. Granted the South does its share of propaganda but an accurate view of history is closer aligned to the point of view of South. It is kind of odd to see veterans who show up thinking that they fought against US imperialism when the general sentiment of South Korea is that they like US troops to stay put.