Word 'Leica' banned on Chinese social media after controversial 'Tank Man' video

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Leica is currently facing trouble in China after publishing a video called 'The Hunt' from 1989, set partly during the pro-democracy protest in Tiananmen Square.

In response to the video, Chinese social media website Weibo has banned the use of the word 'Leica'. Attempts to search for content in English and Chinese using that keyword return zero results.

Titled 'The Hunt', the 5-minute video follows a western photojournalist trying to continue documenting history from a hotel window in Beijing, while attempting to evade the government.

We hunt. We hunt. We fight. We risk it all, says the photographer's voice.

Strangely enough, we spend our entire lives looking for something that, for the most part, simply isn't there ... until it is. And as the big moment approaches, we smile and proudly whisper to ourselves: "I am a hunter."

The film ends with the photographer pointing his camera out of a window. And as he concentrates, you can see a reflection of the iconic "Tank Man" photo (Beijing, 1989) in his lens.

This film is dedicated to those who lend their eyes to show us, reads a message at the end of the film. Inspired by stories of photographers who spared no effort to see reality, Leica launches a new production for these professionals. It is a unique story about risk, passion and history.

The video went viral on social media in China, where a number of users took issue with the dramatic reenactment. Shortly afterwards, Weibo banned posts containing the word 'Leica' because of the video's 'violation of relevant laws and regulations or the Weibo Community Convention', according to the South China Morning Post.

South China Morning Post claims that Leica did not commission the video and did not approve it. The video was reportedly produced by the Brazilian marketing agency F / Nazca Saatchi Saatchi.

The news source published a statement from Leica, which expressed regret over 'any misunderstandings or false conclusions that may have been drawn' in relation to the video.

The controversy comes just as Leica is in the middle of its collaboration with Chinese company Huawei and its plan to launch 20 to 30 new shops in China. The video also arrives at a particularly tense time for the Chinese government, with 4 June marking the 30th anniversary of the government's deadly suppression of the pro-democracy protests.

Leica, for its part, was criticised for distancing itself from the video, which some praised as a poignant reminder of the pro-democracy movement and the Chinese government's bloody response.

The Communist Party of China censors the Tiananmen Square massacre and related protests, so it is not expected to issue a public statement about the video.

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