CNN, Music TV, Cartoons and TV in China

From our many journeys to China, we have been able to experience what China had to offer or not offer.  In the hotels we stayed at, they catered to a Western audience.  So we were able to get a couple of western channels:  CNN, BBC, HBO.  As for HBO, I do not know if they were censored for sex and violence.  We did not have much time to watch.  You are either too tired or too busy running around.  Even when Angie laid down for a nap, I would go out and walk around. 

I do know they censor CNN.  We were watching a story about a Chinese Official doing something and then the screen went black.  A few minutes later, the screen came back.  It was not due to technical difficulties.  It was the end of the story.

Our first trip, we did not watch much TV.  I may have turned it on for the news.  When you flip around the channels, there is not much to see.  I remember seeing a lot of ancient story lines in a Soap Opera setting.  They had music stations.  I did not really get into them until the third trip.  Now as I have gotten into K-Pop(Korean Pop Music), I realize half of what I was seeing could have been Korean music.  I did notice a trend in a lot of videos.  They were sad.  Even though we did not understand the lyrics, the video told a visual story. 

Cartoons come into play on our second adoption.  I guess because of the stuff other adoptive parents say, I believed the orphanages did not have TVs.  I was proven wrong.  When our seven year old walked into the hotel, she grabbed the remote, turned on the TV, and flipped right to a cartoon that was starting.  She did this everyday.  Kayla and Michelle actually got into the cartoons.  They would just sit there and watch them.  The one they like the best was Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf.  It sort of has a Wile E. Coyote/Roadrunner feel to it.  Every episode has the Wolf trying to catch and eat the Goats.  They always get out by using Chinese virtues to live by. 

It was funny though, I remember one  family complaining that they would not let there kids watch it and it was like Spongebob.  We just turned away because our kids loved both of them.  Oh well, to each his own. If they knew the things my daughter likes to watch now, they'd have a heart attack.