Biopic of girls' education pioneer sparks online debate
A poster advertises 'Beyond the Clouds.'
Sixty-seven Weibo accounts have been sanctioned for inciting gender opposition in discussions surrounding the film "Beyond the Clouds," an adaptation of the life of Zhang Guimei, a well-known Chinese educator.
Chinese social media platform Weibo announced on Monday that it has cleaned up 1,782 instances of content and temporarily banned 67 accounts for amplifying group conflict and stirring gender opposition, in accordance with the Sina Weibo Community Convention.
A household name, Zhang, 66, has dedicated more than 40 years to rural education. She launched Huaping High School for Girls in the mountainous region in the southwestern Yunnan Province in 2008, offering free education to girls from impoverished backgrounds. With her help, around 2,000 girls have entered universities and changed their lives via education, many of whom would have otherwise dropped out of school early to get married or work.
Zhang was a recipient of China's July 1 medal in 2021 and was elected vice president of the All-China Women's Federation in late October this year.
The widespread popularity of Zhang gives the film "Beyond the Clouds" a high profile. The film, which was directed by Zheng Dasheng and Yang Jin and stars Hai Qing, is scheduled for release on November 24. Advance screenings of the film, however, have stirred controversy online.
Two of the most controversial points in the film are the change of an original alcoholic and abusive father to a portrayal of a mother, and the shifting of Zhang's unwavering pursuit of idealism to a nostalgic remembrance of her deceased husband.
Regarding the adaptation, a user with the ID "梦幻泡影" on the movie data platform Douban, who is, in fact, the film's screenwriter Yuan Yuan, said in a now-deleted post that the decision to make the alcoholic parent a mother was meant to showcase "women helping women."
"Based on our field research, the situations we observed in such mountainous areas often mirror or even surpass the challenging circumstances depicted in our film," said the film's director Zheng, when addressing the controversy during the promotional tour of the film.
