Disney fans and fans of Mulan have long awaited the release of the 2020 remake. The movie was released on Disney+ on Sept. 4, and many were upset at the $30 price tag. This $30 is in addition to the Disney+ subscription price of $7 per month. Some have chose to boycott the movie because the lead actress has spoken out in support of the Hong Kong police and because the filming of the movie took place in a region plagued by allegations from human rights groups that a number of the Uighur people are being held in re-education centers.
#BoycottMulan has been trending on Twitter since the beginning of September due to the discovery that the main actress Liu Yifei, who plays Mulan, said that she is in full support of the Hong Kong police. Protests have been occurring in Hong Kong since late 2019 because of an amendment that was pro- posed which would allow extradition to mainland China.
Even though Hong Kong is in China, they operate on the “one country, two systems” principle. This principle states that even though Hong Kong, which is a democracy, is in China, which is communist, they are both allowed to have different governments. The protestors of the Hong Kong democracy movement are protesting the bill because they are afraid that Chinese law enforcement could detain anyone from Hong Kong. Even though the bill states that only people that have committed crimes can be detained in mainland China, opposers of the bill argue that the Chinese communist government will detain anyone they want to. Not only those that have committed crimes, but political activists as well.
It is obvious why people are upset at Yifei for supporting Hong Kong police. The police have been known to get violent during arrests and detainments. A man detained at a Hong Kong police station
in August of last year said “I felt my legs hit with something really hard. Then one officer flipped me over and put his knees on my chest. I felt the pain in my bones and couldn’t breathe. I tried to shout but I couldn’t breathe and couldn’t talk.”
Another man, who was arrested at a protest, said, “Immediately I was beaten to the ground. Three of them got on me and pressed my face hard to the ground. A second later, they kicked my face…The same three [Special Tactical Squad members] kept putting pressure on my body. I started to have difficulty breathing, and I felt severe pain in my left rib cage…They said to me, ‘Just shut up, stop making noise.’”
Fans are also boycotting Mulan because the end credits of the movie thank four Chinese Communist party propaganda departments, more specifically the region of Xinjiang where the re-education centers are said to exist. Human rights groups have alleged that in that region, a number of people— including many Muslims — are being imprisoned and subjected to human rights abuses. According to a report shared by NPR in July, “the suppression of Muslim minorites in China has now reached the level where it meets the United Nations definition of genocide.”
China calls these camps re-education facilities, even though things such as sexual abuse, torture and forcible eating of pork is taking place in these camps. While not everyone is aware of the trending #BoycottMulan movement, Disney fans, fans of the original Mulan, and even activists are spreading awareness of it. Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong tweeted on the day of the film’s release,
“This film was released today. But because Disney kowtows to Beijing, and because Liu Yifei openly and proudly endorses police brutality in Hong Kong, I urge everyone who believes in human rights to #Boy-
cottMulan.”
Photo by Tate Walden
