CHINA (UCAN): Rights advocates have criticised the ban by China of the video game, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, in mid-April.
The game was removed from the e-commerce site, Taobao, after some Hong Kong activists, including Joshua Wong, leader of the youth activist group Demosisto, allegedly used it to disseminate politically sensitive images and messages, attack Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, as well Chinese president, Xi Jinping, local reports said.
Human rights advocates, said the move showed the communist government’s tendency to throttle human freedom for political gains.
“Chinese authorities tag political meaning to everything in daily life. The authoritarian government will not allow citizens to enjoy a minimal degree of freedom,” Jackie Hung, project officer of the Justice and Peace Commission,.
The game, developed by the Japanese company Nintendo, allows users to create an island of their own by customising and inviting others to visit. The players live on the island and befriend anthropomorphic animals.
Wong posted a screenshot on Twitter of his own in-game island with a message, “Free Hong Kong, revolution now.”
He claimed that the game was “fast becoming a new way for Hong Kong protesters to fight for democracy.”
He said, “For lots of people around the world who play this game, they have to put their ideal life into the game.”
Wong said that physical gatherings had become difficult because of the Covid-19 pandemic, protests to go online.
The protests began in opposition to an extradition bill that would have allowed the establishment of a mechanism for transfers of fugitives to jurisdictions with which Hong Kong has no extradition arrangement—including China. It was initially suspended in June last year, but only officially withdrawn in September.
Coded life in China
China has stringent rules on online content and uses them to censor any material it believes violates “core socialist values.”
Dong, who comes from Shijiazhuang, in Hebei province, plays the game with his daughter and said the ban on its sale is “absurd.”
He wondered, “What is there that they (the government) don’t ban? Almost everything is forbidden. Now you can’t even talk in full sentences. We have to use coded words in normal conversations.”
He recalled that when he was a student, the authorities were not so strict, but “now, life has become more difficult. If you want to ban it, tell the truth and don’t find some pretence.”
As the Chinese government remains tightlipped about the sales ban, it is unclear whether it was done under a specific direction from the government.
Ping West, a tech news site, said that Chinese officials sent a message to sellers on the Alibaba-owned Taobao last week asking them to stop selling all products linked with the game.
Ais, a young person in Hong Kong, was not surprised saying that it was “the usual practice.”
She believes there are several reasons for banning the game, primarily politics, noting that the Chinese Community Party (CCP). The other is freedom of speech, as the game allows players to create characters and speak through them without censorship.
“Everyone can be themselves, so it attracts a lot of young people to pursue it,” she said, adding, “The players can use the game to learn about news from other places, especially sensitive information.”
She said the CCP does not want more people to play the game and become “a force that challenges the system.”
