Tolstoy story shock for Chinese viewers

Press, 10 March 1982, Page 20

Tolstoy story shock for Chinese viewers

NZPA-AFP Peking It may not be “Dallas,” but a television adaptation of Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” has proved a bit of a shock for puritanical Chinese concerned about the heroine’s apparent “immorality.” Disoriented by this unusual change in their television fare, Chineseviewers wonder how’, to judge Anna and her actions, particularly her decision to abandon husband and child. Reactions range from unflinching support — especially among the younger generation — to unconditional condemnation among older members of the population, notably officials, who are uncertain about the impact the British series will have on young people. “It is much too soon to screen such a film on television. Currently there is an increasing number of young people with sentimental problems who cannot find a

solution through this film. In fact, the opposite is true,” said a middle-aged woman, who recommended that the series be banned outright. The Chinese youth newspaper recently carried a story about someone on the other side of the generation gap: a young woman, who, deceived in love, dressed up in black and went down to a river to throw herself in with a copy of Tolstoy’s novel under her arm. It all ended happily for the young woman because she was saved in the nick of tiem. .* The newspaper said, however, that the incident clearly showed that some young people were unable "to distinguish the good from the bad,” or that they “blindly” emulated the heroes of novels. The general outlook was less extreme, although many Chinese viewers said they had been unable to follow the

plot of the series. “Anna is a bad woman. How can she leave her husband and child when she has everything she could want?” asked a viewer in his 30s. The official press has defended the screening by describing the story as part of the cultural treasure of mankind. It has also pointed out that the Tolstoy novel takes place in 19th century Czarist Russia, and not in socialist China in the latter part of the 20th century, where people are daily exhorted to build “a spiritual socialist civilisation with a high degree of morality” — meaning that' adultery is scorned, along with sex before marriage. All the same, it has been officially acknowledged that the Tolstoy story, written more than a century ago, continues to create a . stir among the population at large.