Photo: Screenshot of Weibo/thepaper.cn

A message was posted on Thursday on the official Weibo account of The Great War, a movie about China's People's Volunteer Army, directed by Chen Kaige, to apologize that one of its film posters with a character dressed in the style of a clown has triggered controversy online.

"We apologize to netizens for the confusion and misunderstanding caused by the character styling as we didn't give the necessary introduction to the styling of the character young Li Xiao and the background of the character," the message said. "We also apologize to the young performer Zhang Xiran, who played the role of young Li Xiao, and apologize to all the creators of the film."

On August 15, the movie's official Weibo account released photos of the 59 performers in the film, in order to express gratitude for their participation, said the message. The performers have also posted photos of their roles on their own Weibo accounts. The photo with a character dressed in the style of a clown is the last scene of the child performer in the movie, so the movie promotion department chose to record the moment with this photo, according to the message.

The incident triggered wide discussion online with some netizens saying that it makes sense as the original character Li Xiao has such an experience, but it's not proper to use the photo on the promotion poster for the character.

"The movie should pay attention to every detail, and it's hoped that it can give us positive information," one netizen wrote.

"[The movie] should always be prudent in film promotion," another netizen wrote.

The character Li Xiao served as a translator for the Chinese delegation to the UN and joined the front line of the battlefield, according to media reports. Many netizens expressed their confusion why such a "clown" image showed up in the poster, which was suspected of "insulting a hero."

Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, Li Xiao was adopted by foreigners during the war, and her "adoptive father" asked her to dance as a clown, as shown on the poster, the message said.

It also thanked netizens for their supervision and vowed to be more cautious in future.

Global Times