Why was "Suzhou River" banned?

"Suzhou River" was banned from public screening in mainland China by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television because it participated in foreign film festivals without being submitted for review.

"Suzhou River" is a romantic literary film shot in 1998 and released in 2000. It was directed by Lou Ye and starred by Zhou Xun, Jia Hongsheng and others.

The film mainly tells the story of the love entanglement between Ma Da and the innocent girl Peony and the beauty of the mermaid who looks exactly like Peony. The film was released in Hong Kong, China on September 7, 2000. In the same year, it also won the Golden Tiger Award at the 29th Rotterdam International Film Festival and the Best Film Award at the 15th Paris International Film Festival, and was selected as one of the top ten films of the year by Time Magazine.

Extended information:

Plot summary

An ordinary photographer in Shanghai makes a living by taking pictures of others. In his eyes, the Suzhou River passes through Shanghai. A dirty river, with different lives of ordinary people happening on both sides of the river. One day, a bar owner came to him and asked him to take pictures of something special. After the owner made many gestures, he realized that he was asking him to take pictures of mermaids swimming in the bar to attract business.

The photographer gradually became familiar with the girl playing the mermaid Mei Mei, and learned the story of Motor and Peony from her mouth. Ma Da is a gangster deliveryman who delivers items of unknown origin from one end of the city to the other on a motorcycle he bought from thieves.

Once, someone asked him to give a little girl Peony as a gift. After doing this several times, Ma Da got to know Peony well and fell in love. But soon Ma Da was involved in a kidnapping conspiracy. The kidnappers attempted to blackmail Mu Dan's father in order to kidnap Mu Dan in exchange for money.