SHOWS hosted by China Central Television (CCTV) host Bi Fujian were ordered off the air for four days from Wednesday to Sunday as punishment for his inappropriate behavior during a private dinner, according to the Chengdu-based Huaxi Metropolis Daily.

    Citing an unidentified CCTV employee, the newspaper says the punishment was handed down from the CCTV leadership because Bi’s behavior “severely damaged the image of CCTV.”

    A video clip featuring Bi dining with friends and singing an excerpt from a revolutionary Peking opera went viral Monday. The opera, “Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy,” was based on a true story about a Communist soldier who went undercover and destroyed a local gang of bandits in 1946. However, Bi’s version, according to the clip, was an adaptation that mocked and humiliated the Communist Party and Mao Zedong.

    Due to the play’s revolutionary spirit, “Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy” became one of only eight plays that were allowed to be performed during the Cultural Revolution. Thus, it has been regarded as an icon of Chinese socialist and revolutionary culture from the 1960s to 1970s.

    No further information has been released as to why Bi parodied this classical play with such scathing satire, and an incomplete remark by Bi at the end of the clip shows that Bi might have been aware of the fact that he was being filmed.

    Bi’s popularity with the Chinese public made the clip a sensation as soon as it was posted online. Some criticized Bi as a “double-dealer” who mocks Mao and the Party while enjoying the fruits of New China founded by the Party under the leadership of Mao. Many showed their disappointment in Bi, doubting if the behavior was proper, given his role as a CCTV host, and said he should apologize.

    However, in an opinion piece by Global Daily, Shan Renping said that “unlike in the era of the Cultural Revolution, a short, questionable clip is not sufficient to identify Bi’s real political orientation.” He believes that, generally speaking, remarks in private shouldn’t be used to define a person’s political orientation because they are usually uttered in casual situations. “However, this video has certainly dealt a blow to Bi. He will have to take responsibility for making those improper remarks,” he said.

    (SD-Agencies)