AFTER MONTHS of mixed messages from China’s film censors, it now looks as if a hit Taiwanese romance with a Japanese flavour, Cape No 7 will get a mainland Chinese release after all – and on Valentine’s Day no less.
The romantic date in some ways echoes the closer relationship between mainland China and bitter rival Taiwan, who are finding ever more common ground since the pro-Beijing leader President Ma Jing-yeou was elected last year.
A major theme in the film is the island’s 50 years as a colony of Japan, a doggedly thorny issue for mainland China. China is run by the Communist Party and it considers Taiwan a renegade province. The losing nationalist Kuomintang party fled there in 1949 after defeat in the civil war.
Japan ruled Taiwan from 1895 to 1945, and in contrast to its actions elsewhere in the region, the island was run in a relatively benign fashion. Some Taiwanese are still nostalgic about the period of Japanese colonisation. However, this sentiment is not common on the mainland, where the Japanese engaged in shocking atrocities.
Weng Li, a spokesman for the state’s China Film Group, said on the group’s website that the movie would show in its original version, with some modifications for “coarse language”, on February 14th. Cape No 7 had been scheduled for release at the end of 2008.