The premiere of Gone with the Bullets, a 3D gangster film directed by top Chinese actor-director Jiang Wen, was abruptly postponed because of last-minute issues with censors, according to a statement made by the film producers on a social media network last week. Although the producers claimed that the film's December 18 release date remains unchanged, fans poured scorn on the already controversial movie censorship.

Gone with the Bullets is one of the most anticipated Chinese movies this year. It's reported that the film had already topped $19.5 million in advance ticket sales as of late November. Since the delay of the premiere, the Internet and the press have been engulfed with a deluge of suspicions over why the film is having a tough time with censors. Some claimed that "vulgar" dialogue ridiculing the classics and historical figures and implicit sex in the movie are the targets, while others speculated that the producers are using the hype to boost the film's box office. Whatever the reasons are, the controversy around Gone with the Bullets has further tarnished the image of China's movie censorship.

China's stringent movie censorship has fueled disapproval of the system. Compared with other booming national industries, China's movie industry is relatively backward.

Chinese directors are blamed for having failed to provide audiences with movies made to the same standards as foreign blockbusters. Some attributed this to the censorship, with the strongest protests seeming to have come from film industry professionals. One of my friends, who is a playwright, keeps pointing fingers at the censorship, accusing it of stifling good work. She has even claimed that there are no "real" movies in China.

As a matter of fact, every country and region has its own film regulations. To comply with laws and cultural customs and protect the audience, it's necessary to manage pornographic or violent content, and in some cases politically incorrect scenes. But the drawback of China's movie regulatory system is that the process of censorship lacks transparency.

In the Internet era, the Chinese audience has a wider range of choices of movies, thus stimulating higher expectation of homemade works. The standards of film censorship should advance accordingly. Otherwise, censorship will become an obstacle to the film industry. 

Within the country, calls for reform of the movie censorship system and for the establishment of a rating mechanism are getting louder.

Facing long-standing controversies over censorship, it's time for the relevant departments to seriously consider these demands and to implement reforms.

We have seen a growing domestic box office and an increasing public demand for cultural products in recent years. Film management departments should create a favorable external environment for the development of the national film industry.

But the movie censorship isn't an excuse for a lack of creativity in the film industry and a lack of domestic blockbusters on the market. China is supporting the development of the cultural industry, and Chinese filmmakers should seize the opportunity. 

Xiao Yezi, a cultural commentator based in Beijing