It seems she is a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a group of Chinese citizens who are given an oppurtunity to speak once a year or so at a meeting that is all set up so it looks like the mainland government actually cares what some of their citizens say.
Gong Li spoke at this year's recent show. (The picture of her was taken the day of her talk). She called for more freedom for people on the mainland China. She said:
I regret that many good movies cannot be shown to the public in the mainland after a lot of money has been spent on them. These are the painstaking efforts and energies of cultural workers. I think those films should go to the public if they have been produced.Even when she works outside China she has to seek government approval for her roles. You can read the news report here
She would know about this subject. The Chinese communist government routinely censors and bans films or plays. Sometimes they ban them even after they have passed a board of review the government makes all movies or plays go through. A couple months ago some Beijingers produced a play that was a modern take on Lu Xun's great story of Ah Q. This play had passed all the censors and they went into production. But the night before the play was to premiere the Communist Party banned it.
So Gong Li's statement makes a lot of sense. People work hard to produce a play or a movie but their government is too scared of their own shadows and ban it.
So, will Gong Li's plea be heard or fall on deaf ears? Clearly, for the immediate future the authorities remain hard of hearing.
The talk by Gong Li was on Feb 28. A report in the Hong Kong standard of March 6 clearly indicates the mainland government's ideas for the media. Here is an excerpt from the March 6 article quoting the government official:
All party-run newspapers and magazines must unconditionally propagandise the party's viewpoints to become the ideological centre for the country's stability and unityThe person quoted was Ding Guangen, the director of the party's Central Propaganda Department. It is also pointed out that he was a bridge partner of the late Deng Xiao Ping.Newspapers, periodicals, radio and television must take it as a regular, fundamental task to promote stability and solidarity, to heighten the youths' socialist consciousness
