China Paper Suspends Cartoonist For Drawing President Hu Crying
Julie Farby - All Headline News Staff Writer Hong Kong (AHN)-A newspaper in southern China has suspended a cartoonist after he drew a weeping picture of Chinese President Hu Jintao. According to a report by the South China Morning Post, depicting national leaders in cartoons is considered politically incorrect in China, although it is periodically done without repercussions. However, artist Kuang Biao's cartoon of a teary-eyed Hu replying to a letter from the daughter of a university professor who died from overwork at age 48 was regarded by mainland censors as unacceptable. The Guangzhou-based tabloid News Express, which published the drawing on Monday, suspended Kuang in what he considered a pre-emptive move to protect him from further punishment from the central propaganda authorities. The Post quoted Kuang as saying, "It's a gesture by the newspaper to show that action has been taken against their wayward journalist. Sometimes in China, a good offense is the best defense." Kuang is being allowed to draw for other publications under a pseudonym. Meanwhile, China's official Xinhua news agency announced rules on Sunday requiring foreign media to seek its approval to distribute news, pictures and graphics within China. International rights groups denounced the regulations as an attack on freedom of information.
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