The most popular meat in China is pork and the Chinese people apparently like pigs quite a lot in many forms, but China is making a big show out of cancelling a few ads with piglet in them. For an summary analysis of China’s “sensitivity,” note the last paragraph of the WSJ quote below:

Next month, China will ring in the Year of the Pig. Nestlé SA planned to celebrate with TV ads featuring a smiling cartoon pig. “Happy new pig year,” the ads said. This week, China Central Television, the national state-run TV network, banned Nestlé’s ad — and all images and spoken references to the animal in commercials, including those tied to the Lunar New Year, China’s biggest holiday. The intent: to avoid offending Muslims, who consider pigs unclean…

The pig ban is a significant shift for a government that seldom puts the interests of minority groups ahead of those of the broader population. China has more than 20 million Muslims, but they constitute less than 2% of its population. For most other Chinese, the pig has powerful and positive cultural associations as one of the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac. Year of the Pig decorations already festoon cities and villages all over China.

Pork is the meat most widely consumed by the country’s Han Chinese majority. On average, Chinese annually eat more than 80 pounds of pork, according to United Nations statistics. At banquets in southern China, people often roast whole pigs, decorated with blinking red lights in their eye sockets. Tens of millions of people have been born in the year of the pig, which occurs every 12 years. People born under the sign of the pig are believed to be happy and honest. Astrologers say this year is held to be especially auspicious for new births.

Pigs symbolize prosperity and good fortune as well as fertility and virility. “Pigs are fat and they mean good luck,” says Miao Saiwang, a spokesman for the Bank of China, a commercial lender. In some areas this year, the bank is using the slogan: “Golden pigs bring good fortune.”

Chinese TV’s ban comes in the wake of the killing of 18 Muslims by police in the country’s remote northwest earlier this month. The government accused the men of being terrorists.

The WSJ piece goes on to say that “Muslim activists have called for an independent investigation.” In our opinion, the activists would be wise not to over-interpret Chinese media censorship as weak resolve.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 25th, 2007 at 6:20 pm and is filed under business, China, General, Left of Left, Religion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.