Tom & Jerry on CCTV from 1991
Tom and Jerry was broadcast on Chinese state television CCTV starting in 1991, airing nightly at 8PM, cementing its huge cultural footprint in China.
Where this was said
Tom & Jerry in China — and the Winnie the Pooh Ban
At 9:56 · chapter starts 9:40
Faye Williams's question about her baffling experience watching a Chinese-produced Tom and Jerry film opens up one of the episode's richest segments. Richard Osman explains that Tom and Jerry has been on Chinese state television CCTV since 1991, airing nightly at 8PM, and became so embedded in Chinese popular culture that the country attempted to create its own rival — 'The Blue Mouse and the Big-Faced Cat' — in the mid-1990s [1] — Richard Osman "Tom and Jerry has been a fixture of Chinese state television since 1991, spawning a massive gaming franchise with 100 million users. China'…" 09:32 . It failed to dislodge the original. Today, a Tom and Jerry online game in China has 100 million users, and the franchise is huge across Asia. But the episode's most striking cultural fact arrives in the counterpoint: Winnie the Pooh, far from enjoying a similar ascent, is comprehensively banned in China. Osman traces the ban to a 2013 meme in which Xi Jinping was compared to Winnie the Pooh and Barack Obama to Tigger, following their White House meeting. Xi's furious response only intensified the satirical pile-on, and the CCP eventually moved to wipe the character from Chinese public life entirely. Osman delivers the punchline with characteristic deadpan: Winnie the Pooh is now 'just about the most banned thing that's possible to be banned in China'.
China Made Its Own Tom and Jerry — and It Flopped
In the mid-1990s China created its own rival cartoon to Tom and Jerry called 'The Blue Mouse and the Big-Faced Cat'. It never came close to matching the original, proving Tom and Jerry's timeless global appeal.
Tom & Jerry online game: 100M users
A Tom and Jerry online game in China has attracted 100 million users, though Richard Osman notes that in China's context that isn't actually that many.
Why Winnie the Pooh Is Totally Banned in China
After a 2013 meme compared Xi Jinping to Winnie the Pooh following his White House meeting with Obama, the character became one of the most comprehensively banned things in China. Images, films, and merchandise — all gone.
Xi-Obama Winnie the Pooh meme: 2013
A 2013 meme comparing Xi Jinping to Winnie the Pooh after his meeting with Obama led to the character being completely banned in China.
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