China’s media regulatory agency, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, suspended the television drama “Let’s Beat the Devils” for a scene featuring a grenade being pulled from a woman’s crotch during a passionate act.
The agency has also started its investigation on the drama, which features the story of the Chinese people's resistance to Japanese troops, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.
The Sino-Japanese clash during the World War II is a popular theme for television programs, for it is considered patriotic and is proven to be effective in providing decent ratings.
However, in the case of "Let's Beat the Devils," its producers have been criticized for taking liberties, using patriotism only as a front act. The show has been receiving the ire of audiences and even state media outlets for absurd or lewd plots.
In the particular scene, a Chinese woman visiting her lover, who was locked by the Japanese, had a grenade hidden in her crotch. As he fondled her, he finds it out and pulls it. The scene is regarded as a suicidal act of resistance against the enemies.
Before pulling out the grenade, the two have exchanges of lines portraying ambiguous sexual innuendo. For instance, the man said that he would erupt once more with ecstasy--a line that might refer to the suicidal act.
A Xinhua editorial stated that the drama is "using sex and violence to entice the audience under the cover of national sentiments. They are reveling on the scars of the history."
The news agency also remarked that the patriotic genre has been employed to cover themes involving sex and violence, citing an unnamed playwright.