what is wrong with Pirates of the Caribbean III?

it is kind of funny that the scene Chow Yun-Fat singing an ancient Chinese poem in "Privates of the Caribbean" was censored in China. is it an anti-orientalism movement or simply a stupid ideological control? see the reprot from AP below, also the translation of the poem at the end

Chinese censors cut Chow Yun-Fat from 'Pirates' movie

BEIJING (AP) - Censors have cut scenes of Chow Yun-Fat as a bald, scared pirate in the new "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie, saying they insult China's people, the main state news agency said Friday.

Xinhua said Chow's time on the screen in "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" had "been slashed in half by censors in China for vilifying and defacing the Chinese."

The version of the Hollywood blockbuster released in China earlier this week shows only about 10 minutes of Chow's scenes compared with 20 minutes in the version seen in the rest of the world, it said.

Xinhua quoted Zhang Pimin, deputy head of the film bureau under the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, as saying the decision to cut the scenes was made according to China's "relevant regulations on film censorship" and "China's actual conditions."

He refused to give specific reasons for the cuts, but Xinhua quoted a Chinese magazine, Popular Cinema, as saying the scenes were cut because of the negative images they showed.

"The captain starring Chow is bald, his face heavily scarred, he also wears a long beard and has long nails, images still in line with Hollywood's old tradition of demonizing the Chinese," the magazine said.

Chow makes his first appearance in the third of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, playing Captain Sao Feng, the pirate lord of the South China Sea.

The film took in a record $1.3 million on its opening day in China on Tuesday, the film's distributor, The Walt Disney Co., said.

Disney has said that some of the film's scenes were cut for cultural sensitivities.

"They weren't quite ecstatic with how the Chinese pirate was portrayed," Anthony Marcoly, distribution chief at Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Distribution International, said earlier this week.

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also I found the translation of this poem here:

Li Bai

THE MOON AT THE FORTIFIED PASS

The bright moon lifts from the Mountain of Heaven

In an infinite haze of cloud and sea，

And the wind， that has come a thousand miles，

Beats at the Jade Pass battlements……

China marches its men down Baideng Road

While Tartar troops peer across blue waters of the bay……

And since not one battle famous in history

Sent all its fighters back again，

The soldiers turn round， looking toward the border，

And think of home， with wistful eyes，

And of those tonight in the upper chambers

Who toss and sigh and cannot rest.

明月出天山 蒼茫雲海間

長風幾萬里 吹度玉門關

漢下白登道 胡窺青海灣

由來征戰地 不見有人還

戍客望邊色 思歸多苦顏

高樓當此夜 歎息未應閑

Forum in Goldsmiths College

Return of the Tank - In search of an open system in contemporary China
Date: 4 June, 2007
Time: 10am-1pm
Venue: Rm 137a, Goldsmiths College,University of London
Convenor: Yuk Hui, ManLok Law

Flickr is censored in China

Recently flickr, the photosharing website is blocked in China.