Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings Faces Possible Ban In China

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings could reportedly be banned in China.

The new Marvel movie has already been praised for its exploration and representation of Asian culture, but may not be released in the world’s largest film market, according to Variety.

The film — which stars Simu Liu as Shang-Chi — could be banned after the actor was accused by social media users of being insulting towards China.

Simu, 32 — who was born in China but moved to Canada at the age of five — previously reflected on his family’s immigrant background in a video celebrating Canada’s 150th anniversary.

He said: "When I was young, my parents would tell me these stories about growing up in Communist China where you had people dying of starvation.

"They lived in the third world. They thought of Canada as this pipe dream, as this place where they could go to be free and to create a better life for their kid."

The comments could prompt the movie to be banned in the world's most populous country, and Simu could also face a lengthy ban from the Chinese film market.

Variety also pointed out that jingoistic social media users in China were also unhappy with a GQ video Simu did where he mentioned that his favourite beverage is a lemon tea made by Hongkong company Vitasoy.

Shang-Chi has so far earned more than US$264.5 million (S$355.9 mil) worldwide, including US$152 million in North America.— BANG SHOWBIZ

Photo: Disney