Disney’s Winnie the Pooh-inspired fantasy Christopher Robin will not be released in China, with speculation that the ban is due to a popular Chinese social media meme comparing the cuddly bear to President Xi Jinping.
The live-action/CGI tale stars Ewan McGregor as the human protagonist of A. A. Milne’s series of children’s tales, who returns to Hundred Acre Wood as an adult and reconnects with familiar characters such as Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
That’s because the “bear with very little brain” has been used to poke fun at all-powerful President Xi in memes spread by Chinese internet users.
The cuddly character has become an improbably subversive resistance symbol for citizens opposed to Xi, who in March this year was made president for life.
The joke began in 2013, Vox reports, when a photo of the rotund Xi walking alongside a comparatively lanky Barack Obama was circulated on Chinese social media giant Weibo alongside an image of Winnie and Tigger walking hand in hand.
The comparison took off, as other encounters with foreign leaders were given similar treatment:
Last summer, government censors blocked all images of Winnie from the site. Typing the bear’s Chinese name into Weibo’s content brings up an error message warning “content is illegal”, Sky News reports.
In March, the country’s Party-controlled legislature voted to remove term limits, paving the way for Xi to rule for life.
-
Switzerland could vote to cap its populationUnder the Radar Swiss People’s Party proposes referendum on radical anti-immigration measure to limit residents to 10 million
-
Political cartoons for February 15Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include political ventriloquism, Europe in the middle, and more
-
The broken water companies failing England and WalesExplainer With rising bills, deteriorating river health and a lack of investment, regulators face an uphill battle to stabilise the industry
-
Epstein files topple law CEO, roil UK governmentSpeed Read Peter Mandelson, Britain’s former ambassador to the US, is caught up in the scandal
-
Iran and US prepare to meet after skirmishesSpeed Read The incident comes amid heightened tensions in the Middle East
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
