i’m going to take a moment to deviate from my usual posts, so bear with me: the actress starring in the 2020 Mulan remake, Liu Yifei, has just voiced her support for the Hong Kong police. these are the police who have been brutalizing protestors for several months now with batons, tear gas, and rubber bullets, and recently blinded a young medic in one eye. Liu has a social media platform of 65 million followers, and has been in the national spotlight since her casting - her words have influence and impact. her conscious decision to stand by the HK police sends a clear message: that violence against civilians is acceptable as a means of control, intimidation, and suppression.
this breaks my heart. as a person of Chinese descent, Mulan’s character was a source of inspiration and empowerment throughout my childhood, and I’m sure I wasn’t alone in my excitement to see the remake, but I’m even more saddened and disgusted by Liu Yifei’s support of the police. note that Liu is a naturalized American citizen, and reaps the benefits of freedom and democracy in the US while supporting those who are fighting to silence it in China.
if Mulan were real and here now, she would be out on the streets of Hong Kong, fighting for the fundamental rights of 7 million Hong Kong citizens. please, please, please consider boycotting this movie. skip it, pirate it, do what you need to do, but show that you won’t stand for police brutality.
Yo shutup. All celebrities from China, or those of Chinese descent are voicing support for the HK police. Want to know why? They have a family. Liu Yifei has a family living in China. She doesn’t get the privilege of freedom of speech. Not if she doesn’t want her family to get hurt. Some Chinese celebrities captions are identical when voicing these “opinions”. If they don’t comply, their family could be in danger. Go ahead and boycott Mulan if you want, but don’t blame Liu Yifei, she’s only trying to protect those that matter to her.
This! This is what I’m saying. Many of you do not understand there is no such thingg as freedom of speech in China. Y'all remember the cultural revolution right? Listen, China’s not even giving their citizens half the story, for all they know they think China wants to work with Hong Kong and Hong Kong’s just throwing a fit. The posts on weibo say, “I love China, I love Hong Kong.” What does this tell you?
China. Isn’t. Giving. Them. The full. Story.
Plus, China censors and blocks so much international media nobody knows what’s actually going on outside their country. Why don’t they have twitter? They have weibo, controlled by their government. No youtube? They have YouKu, again, controlled by the government.
Many of you do not understand that she has more than just money at stake, she has her family at stake, close friends at stake. I can’t emphasize this enough too, but China’s like a more lenient North Korea. You really don’t understand the sacrifices their citizens will have to make if they choose to rebel or not say anything at all. But more likely than not they’re just going along blindly supporting the government because they don’t even know half of the story?
Here’s another example, the cdrama, Chen Qing Ling/The Untamed, their entire cast has also posted on weibo their support in China’s government, but like I said from above, their posts translate to “I love China, I love Hong Kong.” They don’t even know what’s the truth. In fact it’s almost impossible for them to know the truth because China censors and blocks so much international media. And even if they do know the truth, what the fuck can they do? It’s either live or die.
Let’s go back to TianMen Square. Rmember when people were out there protesting for democracy and the government literally sent out tanks to bulldoze over them? Y'all really don’t realize how bad it is there. And as someone who’s from China, who’s experienced the culture, the government is God. You don’t question them. China’s also declared themselves an athiest country and will literally go after attack/ban those who practice any sort of religion. There, you don’t question authority, you conform, and if you don’t, you’re dead.
So boycott Mulan if you feel like you must, but understand that will change nothing. China doesn’t care if we boycott this movie or not. Before making any final decision, please understand where Liu Yifei is coming from, the culture she’s coming from, the literal dictator-ship government she is coming from.
Everyone who’s saying “she’s American”, well NEWS FLASH HER FAMILY ISN’T! Not only her whole family but her family friends and even clsoe friends could be in grave danger, or just straight up die. Do you not understand what a totaliterian government is? She’s actually a victim, everyone in China, or those with relatives living in China are all victims. If they speak out or stay silent they die. That’s the truth. It’s hard to swallow pills, and yes I agree, what they’re doing to Hong Kong is awful, but truth is China’s not even giving their citizens the truth, the posts are all “I love China, I love Hong Kong.” What does that tell you? They don’t even have access to most international media. Boycott the movie if y'all like, but that’s not going to solve the problem.
Yeah, on the first level I’m not gonna ignore the work of dozens of other actors and hundreds if not thousands of creators behind the scenes because one of them takes a stance that I don’t agree with. That just seems so cruel to all of them and ultimately futile anyway. Liu Yifei is taking a stance I don’t like but that doesn’t mean the work of Donnie Yen, Niki Caro, or anyone else who poured their souls into this project for the past few years should simply be thrown aside because of it?
And then on the second level I’m especially not gonna do so when that one public figure who’s taken said stance is backed into a corner of having no free will to choose her own stance by a totalitarian government. You can’t hold the entire world to American standards. Not everyone has freedom to say whatever they want without fear of repercussions. Not everyone can take stances that oppose the police or any sort of governmental body. Cancel culture doesn’t work outside of a relatively free society.
