TVB has apologised for mistakenly using the modern-day People’s Republic of China flag in a WWII documentary. Netizens criticised the error, claiming it was an attempt to “rewrite history”.
The documentary was about the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII, with one scene depicting two major battles in Taierzhuang and Wuhan between Chiang Kai-shek’s Chinese Nationalist army and the invading Japanese forces. The programme used the present-day People’s Republic of China’s flag to denote Chiang’s Nationalist forces.
The battles, among many other major ones, were part of the Kuomingtang’s contribution to the Chinese war effort. Mao Zedong’s Communist forces did not take part in the battles depicted.
The programme received more than 620 complaints, with some accusing the network of “misleading the audience” and “neglecting historical facts”.
Some netizens said the broadcaster was “fabricating history” to stay in line with Mainland China’s narrative of painting the Communist forces’ war contributions in a more flattering light.
TVB apologised for the mistake and relaunched a new version of the programme, with a historically correct Chinese flag, onto their webpage – only to make another historical error by replacing the Japanese national flag with the Imperial Japanese war insignia. Whoops!
Four producers have received official warnings as a result, while the director has been dismissed, sources told Stand News.
The Republic of China’s (ROC) national flag was used throughout WWII, whereas the current Chinese flag was not adopted until 1949 when the Communists came into power after the civil war. The ROC flag is still currently being used Taiwan.
Got a tip? Send it to us at hongkong@coconuts.co.
