Naked Greek myth kiss gives Hong Kong cause to blush July 22, 2007
Posted by grhomeboy in BooksLife, Hellenic Light Asia.trackback
The first kiss of the mythological character Psyche could well have been her last if frontline officers of the Television and Licensing Authority had their way.
Yet newly appointed Commissioner for Television and Entertainment Licensing Maisie Cheng Mei-sze vigorously defended them Friday, saying they had not made a mistake in telling an exhibitor at the Hong Kong Book Fair to remove a book on Greek mythology because the front cover had a picture of a 1798 painting of a nude Psyche receiving her first kiss from Cupid.
The authority later relented and allowed the bookseller to keep it on the stand, but not before news of the temporary ban had gone around the world and Hong Kong had its world face reddened. The painting, by French painter Francois Gerard (1770-1873), is titled Psyche receiving the first kiss of Cupid and which now hangs in the Louvre in Paris.
In explaining their apparent disrespect for art, Cheng said that on Wednesday night, a day before the exhibition opened, the authority’s inspectors were invited by fair organizer Trade Development Council to visit the exhibition to give opinions to booksellers.
On seeing nakedness portrayed on the book cover and some inside pages, the officers told the Yuan-Liou (Hong Kong) Publishing Company to remove the book from the shelf as it may offend the sensitivities of some Hong Kong people. However, the authority relented the following day and informed the TDC which, in turn, informed the publisher.
“We discussed the book with the publishers and told them it may upset some members of the public … it did not mean the book cannot be sold,” Cheng said. “After our discussion, we thought there would be no problem.” Cheng said inspectors at the fair had to make quick decisions and had no time for consultation and research. “It is not easy to deal with marginal cases,” Cheng said.
She rejected claims the authority had made a mistake, but admitted there was room for improvement. Consequently, frontline staff will be given more training and the notification mechanism improved, she said. “The way the authority’s inspectors handle such matters can be improved, especially the communication between frontline staff and their supervisors,” Cheng said.
Yuan-Liou manager Chan Kwok- wah was less than enthusiastic about Cheng’s explanation. “The frontline staff should be trained to make professional judgments,” he said. “It is a waste of time if they have to keep referring to their supervisors and this could cause us to lose a business opportunity.” He said the TELA officers just flipped through the book “casually” before deciding it was not suitable for sale.
In a separate incident, a Taiwanese publisher was found to be selling comic books laced with what appeared to be child pornography. Cheng said the publisher had been told to stop selling such comics until they had been properly inspected. She said to date no book at the fair has been classified as obscene.
Wang Zhonglong, a deputy editor of the comic’s publisher, said policies with regard to such comics were different in Taiwan and he was unaware of local laws. He apologized for any offense caused and said they had been pulled from the book fair.
grhomeboy
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