What China's Ban On Gay TV Characters Says About The Government

05:39

March 18, 2016

Chinese people watch live television coverage at a conference room in Yantai, east China's Shandong province as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang delivers his report during the opening ceremony of the National People's Congress in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 5, 2016. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

New rules reported by Chinese media this month reveal tighter censorship in an already heavily censored country. Depictions of homosexuality, smoking, drinking, adultery, reincarnation and other activities deemed unsavory by the state are banned in the media, including on television and streamed content.

Speaking with Here & Now's Meghna Chakrabarti, Chinese media scholar Ying Zhu explains that the rules are part of a renewed effort to diminish Western influence and consolidate power under China's President Xi Jinping.

Guest

Ying Zhu, professor of media culture at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York and author of "Two Billion Eyes: The Story of China Central Television."

This segment aired on March 18, 2016.