China bans home-grown cartoon 'The Pleasant Goat'

Recently, two of the most popular and successful Chinese cartoons have come under fire for being too violent for children.

For years, China has been trying to develop domestic cartoons to compete with the US and Japan. But recently, two of the most popular and successful Chinese cartoons have come under fire for being too violent for children. The government has suspended them on all TV channels, and that has sparked some controversy.

"Tom and Jerry" is famous around the world and loved by parents and children alike. But it has also been criticized for its cartoon violence.

Here in China, another enormously popular cartoon "The Pleasant Goat", with a similar plot of a big bad wolf trying to catch and eat cute little sheep, has also come under fire.

It, too, has been accused of being what the media watchdog says is "violent and vulgar" and suspended for broadcasting. Along with it, another home-grown cartoon "Bonnie Bear" has banned.

Yang Shufen, Education Expert, Beijing Chengjingren Moral Education School, said, "Children can easily imitate what they have seen. The influence of the mass media is so powerful that parents can hardly avert it."

One example of this imitation, used by the critics, is a 9-year-old viewer who tied his two friends to a tree and set them on fire. The victims were almost killed and ended up with severe burns. Their family sued the cartoon.

Reports say throughout the 1,000-episode program, the sheep gets boiled over 800 times, and the wolf gets assaulted by a frying pan over 9,500 times.

Though, opinions among viewers, both parents and children, are divided.

Now the producer of "The Pleasant Goat" cartoon has pledged on spending of multi-million yuan to modify the cartoon to play down the alleged violence, But others suggest that perhaps it's better not to interfere with the free market for animators. They are suggesting a cartoon rating system to alert parents to the level of violence.