And the Oscar Goes To ... China?

When Ang Lee thanked "everybody in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China" last week while accepting a Best Director Oscar for his gay-cowboy romance Brokeback Mountain, the mainland returned the love. The state-run China Daily called Lee "the pride of the Chinese people all over the world" and "the glory of Chinese cinematic talent." But it ignored the fact that Lee was born and raised in Taiwan, which China considers a breakaway province. Lee's shout-out to his fellow Taiwanese was excised from the mainland broadcast of the Oscars—as was a speech on gay love, which is widely stigmatized in China. While Beijing hasn't allowed the film to be distributed, curious Chinese are in luck: thanks to rampant piracy on the mainland, illicit DVDs are widely available.