China Central Television (CCTV) movie channel CCTV6 was originally scheduled to broadcast the movie “New York, I Love You” in two parts on the evening of May 12th. However, it was questioned by netizens whether the change in schedule to air the Italian comedy film “Welcome to the South” was a gesture of goodwill towards the United States by the official media, following which the related social media hot topic was also banned.
The US-China high-level economic and trade talks were held in Geneva on May 10th and 11th. On the morning of May 12th, the Chinese delegation announced at a press conference that the talks had made substantial progress.
Shortly after, around 11 a.m. on May 12th, the official Weibo account of “Changjiangyun News” under Hubei Radio and Television Station posted a screenshot of the program list from CCTV’s official website, stating that significant progress had been made in the US-China economic and trade talks, and that the movie “New York, I Love You” would be broadcast at 10:24 p.m. and 11:01 p.m. that evening. Many netizens interpreted this as a gesture of friendship towards the United States by the official media, indicating that the negotiations were going well. The hashtag “Six Princesses Screening New York I Love You” from this Weibo post became a hot topic on Weibo.
“Six Princesses” is a nickname that netizens use for CCTV movie channel because it often selects movies based on current events, deviating from the regular program schedule.
Many netizens quipped, “Is this going well again?” “180 degrees turn.” “Thought we were going to watch ‘Battle on Shangganling Mountain’ for a while (a Korean War movie), didn’t expect ‘New York, I Love You’ to start airing.” “You have to watch the international situation through the lens of Six Princesses’ movie choices.” “It’s like playing house, a few days later the Boeing planes will be back flying.” “So childish.” “Who cares what they air, TV is selling junk anyway.”
However, following the buzz surrounding “Six Princesses Screening New York I Love You,” the movie channel removed the screening of “New York, I Love You” from its schedule during the mentioned time slots, and instead aired the Italian comedy film “Welcome to the South.” The Weibo hot topic related to “Six Princesses Screening New York I Love You” was also banned.
In the past, during the escalation of the US-China trade war in 2019, the CCTV movie channel had consecutively aired movies with themes of the Korean War such as “Battle on Shangganling Mountain” and “Heroic Sons and Daughters.” Later, following a call between the leaders of China and the United States, they aired the love story film “Love Over the Yellow River” depicting the cooperation between soldiers of both countries in fighting against Japan. Netizens pointed out that “the movie titles chosen by Six Princesses often reflect the direction of many (official) matters.”