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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Lawbringer: Dispelling the panda myths
by Mathew McCurley 
Oct 28th 2011 at 4:00PM
With the announcement of Mists of Pandaria and the inclusion of the Pandaren race in World of Warcraft, the most-asked question that I received was "How is this possible with the laws in China against killing pandas in video games?" The second most-asked question was "How is this possible when Kung Fu Panda will just sue Blizzard?" After I got over the initial hilarity of imagining the actual Jack Black-voiced Kung Fu Panda taking a dude to court, I realized that the myths about China's involvement with pandas in games, as well as what constitutes a real cause of action in terms of copying characters, are finally issues at the forefront of WoW topics.
The Lawbringer is all about pandas today. You might be sick of them, you might love them, or heck, you might be on the panda fence. I can promise you that even if you aren't a Pandaren fan, you just might learn a little something or two from today's all-panda fun. Sit back, relax, get all Zen-like, and let's see what the Pandaren have to offer us.
Why not sooner?
There are a lot of myths out there about why Blizzard never introduced the Pandaren race earlier than now. The Pandaren has been and still was one of the most requested races by players to be added to the game. Their Blizzard origins come from artist Samwise Didier, who originally used his Pandaren creations on greeting cards and personal drawings for his family. The Pandaren made their way into Warcraft III on Illidan's glaives as well as through Pandaren hero Chen Stormstout, friend of Rexxar during the Orc campaign in The Frozen Throne. Pandaren have also been the stewards of the Blizzard April fool's jokes in years past, so many people considered them a joke, all things considered.
One of those prevailing myths about why Pandaren haven't been fully realized in game sooner was that the Chinese governmental body that approves games for distribution, the Ministry of Culture, had some sort of rule or law that the panda should not be depicted in media being hurt or killed. This is just not true. In fact, there really isn't any type of law like that. There are some crazy laws on the books with regards to pandas, like the millions of dollars in fees zoos have to pay to keep pandas out of China, but not anything with regards to media. In fact, there are a bunch of Chinese-made games with Asian-inspired expansion packs, races, and entire MMOs based around panda people.
So why did China have a problem with Pandaren?
The root of the Pandaren problem wasn't in a law or regulation. Many have speculated that Chinese aversion to the original Pandaren drawings by Samwise had to do with the Pandaren being characterized as samurai in traditional samurai clothing. The panda is inherently Chinese, but the samurai armor and styles that Samwise had drawn them in had the trappings of Japanese culture. The Chinese and Japanese have a long, storied, and problematic history that makes this type of cross-culture expression somewhat looked down upon.
After a while, the Pandaren characters lost their samurai warrior clothing and instead donned the traditional black and white Chinese linen garb and conical straw hat. This, presumably, made the Pandaren more palatable for the Chinese and paved the way for the Pandaren we see today. If you've ever wanted a more clear-cut, teachable moment in video game translation and localization, this is it.
So no, the Chinese authorities and ministry of culture do not have a law on the books banning panda people from getting popped with some magic spells or beaten down in PVP. WoW's troubles in China with releasing expansions, content, or other related products are merely political in nature, having to do with their relationship to the companies that they have contracted with for distribution and development. The ministry of culture does have laws that forbid foreign companies from engaging in joint partnerships, and the NetEase/the9 debacle surrounding the release of Wrath of the Lich King was definitely attributable to "laws on the books." Pandaren? Nope.
The other email I got in droves (and I wish I were using this word in an inflated sense, hyperbolically, if you will) was what Kung Fu Panda thinks of all of this. Well, for one, Kung Fu Panda doesn't think anything about this. He's off saving the world from Ian McShane. He did the voice of the villain in that movie, right? I love Ian McShane.
No, if anyone would be upset, it would be Dreamworks Animation, the company that produced the film, as well as its distribution partner Paramount. The real question is whether or not enough of Mists of Pandaria looks too much like Kung Fu Panda for there to be a cause of action against Blizzard for ripping off Dreamworks' film. There are a few factors to consider:
- Is the work in the same medium?
- Could a consumer get confused as to which brand is being represented?
- Can you even own the concept of a kung-fu-fighting, anthropomorphic panda man?
Think about it this way: I can copyright specific works of fiction and certain specific aspects of that story that go along with the whole, but general concepts and story tropes are not protectable. If I wrote a story about two star-crossed lovers who can't be with each other because of familial tensions and fighting, the corpse of Shakespeare isn't going to take me to court. Similarly, if I wrote a book about zombies, author Max Brooks won't have anything to sue me over. However, if I wrote a book about a roving reporter during the zombie war, there might be something there, à la World War Z (which you should all read). Remember when The DaVinci Code hit it big and authors from all around the world came out of the woodwork to say that they already came up with the idea of a super-smart symbologist who tracks down the lost heirs of Jesus Christ? I actually worked on one of these cases, and it was truly an experience.
Copyright lawsuits come about when two pieces of art or media are too similar to a consumer such that the copies could be mistaken for the original or as a derivative work of the original. Let's stay with the Kung Fu Panda example. If you're a Netflix Instant Watch subscriber, you've most likely seen a movie called Chop Kick Panda show up in one of your queues. Chop Kick Panda is about as rip-off-y as you get in terms of story, character design, and tone. The characters in each film are practically the same. Seriously, go watch the first three minutes of Chop Kick Panda and tell me someone didn't watch Kung Fu Panda and just happen to make their own movie.
Is that a comprehensive look at the copyright issues dealing with story tropes? Nah. Is it enough for this particular topic? It sure is. Mists of Pandaria and Kung Fu Panda can live in harmony and peace, together in a world where pandas doing martial arts don't infringe on each other. Balance in all things, etc.
See you guys next week.
This column is for entertainment only; if you need legal advice, contact a lawyer. For comments or general questions about law or for The Lawbringer, contact Mat at mat@wowinsider.com.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, The Lawbringer, Mists of Pandaria
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 7)
dartht8ter Oct 28th 2011 5:23PM
Changing the padaren armor was supporting chinese hatred and racism of the japanese, you are 100% right and honest no matter how the excusers will spin it. Didier is known to love chinese and Japanese myth and culture and brought the two innocently together in a work of art HE created. It doesn't matter where that racism or hatred comes from, thats what it is. And hello people defending it? The chinese have one of the worst humanitarian records currently on the planet. Don't defend them that's sickening.
Jyotai Oct 28th 2011 5:27PM
Mixing of Japanese and Chinese symbols is better analogized to what would result if you put a guy with a scimitar and red crescent into your game as the 'Rabbi warrior' class, and another with a long beard, black suit and top hat, and called him the 'Imam scholar'.
Or a guy in a brown shirt, black boots, blond hair, with a red banner on his arm as the 'defender of Jerusalem.'
- Is it racist to -not- do those things, or racist to do them...
Given the history, probably racist if you did them.
China and Japan mix like Oil and Water. The conflict between Japan and all of mainland coastal Asia goes back -longer- than the conflict between Jews and Muslims, and is much deeper rooted. Japan has been in a state of open war or tense peace with the entire mainland for about 2000 years, with the longest period of peace beginning in 1945 (during the centuries when Japan Isolated itself, piracy and banditry across both sides were still quite rampant).
It might look like the French and English today from the outside - still yelling at each other across the water but not really hostile anymore - but its not. These cultures almost define themselves by this conflict. WWII is "ancient history" in the west, but in Asia its barely over as something people still remember in their own lives and hotly argue over.
worgeninthewoods Oct 28th 2011 5:30PM
I think you have that backwards. They don't want their culture to be confused with another. Your bald eagle example was a pretty good way to try and make it relate to you, but the unfortunate difference is that for a long time many Asian cultures have had to deal with the racist act of being grouped together (i.e. calling a person Oriental and not thier actual heritage.). For ages people have mislabeled and mixed up Asian cultures and I do not think this is an issue of the Chinese being racist but rather wanting proper identification. Of course im putting aside thie historical conflicts, although they do PROBABLY have some affect on this.
HOWEVER WoW is a mishmash of all kind of cultures and nationalities. :3
Saeadame Oct 28th 2011 5:37PM
@darth8er
Uhh... both of them have terrible humanitarian records. Actually, almost every nation in the world has a terrible humanitarian record at some point in recent history.
If we based whether we could defend a country based on the terrible crap it has or may currently be doing, we would just have to condemn everyone.
But sure, @everyone, go read a book called "Beijing Coma" by Ma Jian if you're interested in modern China and it's various... crap. I'm not saying China's awesome. I'm saying condemning them for finding something objectionable, which I personally think is a little bit of an overreaction, when there are reasons for it is a little black and white.
radda Oct 28th 2011 5:45PM
It has little to do with the government. Asian cultures just have a habit of hating other Asian cultures. The Japanese and the Koreans are constantly at each other's throats, and there's an entire online subculture in Japan that's like an anti-Korean version of Stormfront.
It's just culture. Is it wrong? To us, maybe. It doesn't make them inherently bad people, just different.
/anthronerd
Marcosius Oct 28th 2011 5:51PM
People have brought up the "rape of nanking" which is a horrible period of time in their recent history, and probably still a very sore wound. However, as someone pointed out, China's hardly an innocent victim either, considering they're currently actively oppressing the people of Tibet and their religion, among hundreds if not thousands of other human rights violations.
Both sides have done horrible, horrible things to each other, you'd think that the healing might be allowed to start in something as innocent as a video-game. But perhaps the hatred runs too deep, at least on official level - I have no idea if the actual citizens really hate each other.
dartht8ter Oct 28th 2011 5:52PM
@Saeadame
Thanks for making my point its very black and white.
Stop defending ALL these countries as though they don't trash other peoples symbols and cultures themselves.
That is what im saying.
Jerhomie Oct 28th 2011 6:01PM
@icepyro
"While I kind of understand your point, there is a point in national pride and mistaking cultural references. As a long time fan of both Chinese and Japanese cultures, calling MoP Asian seems a bit broad to me since it's mainly Chinese and maybe some southeastern Asian, while Night Elves got Japanese (so wow already has Asian)"
Thank you! I was about to post the same thing! I've always felt that the night elves were Japanese inspired in WoW (not so much in War3) and that the repeated use of the term "Asian inspired" is too general especially since the night elves have been around since day one. Then again, I suppose the way the Japanese see it, there is Asia, and there is Japan, so saying something is Asian doesn't apply to them. :P
I also see things on the flip side. As a Person of Japanese decent I don't much care to see a Chinese symbol wearing an iconic piece of Japanese culture, it seems crass and slapdash. Probably much less of an issue as WoW isn't even in Japan, but still. Now I'm trying to figure out what a decidedly Japanese animal would be.
Andrew Oct 28th 2011 5:59PM
Ditto to the whole "Chinese and Japanese were at war for years, WWII, they still don't like each other" argument everyone's been making. (@Daedalus: truth, my grandmother was forced to walk around 500 miles to escape the Japanese in the 40s, and my grandfather's father was a Japanese sympathizer later disowned by his children. Still not much love lost between cultures.)
Jyotai Oct 28th 2011 6:47PM
@Andrew: Similar here. My Grandfather left China as the Japanese moved in. Resulting in me being a Chinese / Native American mix.
My wife's Korean, and her family has one line that is part Japanese - resulting in some curious dynamics there.
There is a generation of people in Korea who's native tongue is Japanese, because it was illegal for Korean to be spoken in Korea for the first half of the 20th century.
For every bit of hostility China has towards Japan, Korea has twice.
Its regrettable that wounds have been unable to heal in Asia. But Japan needed to get out in front of things long ago for that to happen. Postwar Germany's second generation; the ones who went to college in the 50s... the German 'beatniks' - held their parents to task.
Germany tried to play the denial card at first. The war generation at least. But the kids who were just old enough to have seen the war, but not old enough during it to say anything... that's 50s and early 60s generation - they forced it out into the open and made all of German society change, for the better. I've got an aunt who's father was an SS Officer; and she's been a lifelong human rights worker, married to a Mexican (my Uncle) who spent years as an attorney for migrant workers and inner city poor (despite his grandparents being Yucatan Hacienda plantation owners).
- She not the rare exception. Her generation of Germans were just like that, and have caused modern Germany to have the kind of culture that causes it to be one of the champions of international human rights issues.
Japan's second generation didn't have the same chance to challenge their parents, so the culture of denial and martial-pride has continued, and was not helped by their rise to economic power in the 70s/80s while the other Asian countries were still considered 'the 3rd world.'
All of this comes down to: When you tread in Asian cultural motifs, there are some mistakes you cannot dare to make. There are some you can get away with. Some maybe even encouraged. But some that will land you in a hotbed of controversy.
A Samurai Panda would be one of those you'd never live down.
Kharnis Oct 28th 2011 7:11PM
@Eyhk: The word "geisha" doesn't mean what you think it means. Geisha were never, at any moment in time, prostitutes and they especially weren't "comfort women" (and yes, I feel dirty just using that term).
fatherland Oct 28th 2011 8:11PM
Technically this is an example of xenophobia, and not racism since the dislike comes from being citizens or decedents of different countries and not of a different race.
Drakkenfyre Oct 28th 2011 9:50PM
Do you understand the reason the hatred exists between China and Japan? This isn't a racist thing.
The country did horrible, horrible things to China in the past. And up until World War II.
Part of the original bad reaction of Pandarens was the fact that they were originally drawn wearing Japanese armor.
It's not a racist thing. Actual bad-blood has existed between the countries for centuries. Putting a Panda in Japanese armor could be seen as incredibly offensive to a Chinese person.
Tai Oct 28th 2011 10:19PM
I always kind of thought the night elves were Korean more then anything. Don't they have kimchi and the Korean dress?
Reis Oct 28th 2011 10:20PM
uh Jyotai, just to clarify something for you, the people of Israel and Mohammed have literally the longest running hatred on the face of the planet. The trace their history to the same two brothers, over six to ten thousand years, depending on who you ask. Just so you know.
ephuthepaladin Oct 28th 2011 10:51PM
@ Ata
I just want to thank you for pointing that out. I was about to reply the same exact thing when I saw your comment. You know how people say "History repeats itself"? Well if you don't learn history now, you can't learn from people's mistakes and it will, in fact, repeat. My current fear is that the majority of people are forgetting the terrible, and occasionally good, things that happened in the past and it will ultimately be our downfall.
TL;DR Use that wonderful invention we call the internet and read up on some history.
Jonisjalopy Oct 28th 2011 11:36PM
The "racism" between the Japanese and Chinese is one of those thing that goes as far back as history allows.
As someone who's of Japanese decent I can tell you there are members of my family who, to this day, loathe China/Taiwan and everything from there. My grandmother refuses to buy anything made in either country cause they are made by "barbarians". I was taught growing up that products from these countries were unclean.
It's like the Hatfields and McCoys. It's a feud that has been going on for thousands of years and will go on for a thousand more. Most of the time, the kids only carry it on because they learn from their parents, who learned from theirs etc.....It's sad but true :(
Suzaku Oct 29th 2011 5:55AM
Long discussion thread here and I'm late to the party, but I'll boil it down.
It's not about Chinese people being racist. It's about Blizzard needing to show cultural sensitivity. Dressing pandaren in Japanese clothing would be wrong on TWO levels.
The first, surface level, is that pandas are a national symbol of China, which is a completely different country from Japan, with its own culture, history, mythology, fashion, and cuisine. Creating the sort of "oriental flavored soup" stereotypes that are common in so many settings is incredibly insensitive. As insensitive as lumping all black people into a single stereotype.
The second, more deeply seeded level, is that prior to their surrender to the Allies in WWII, the Japanese were essentially the tyrannical overlords of East Asia. They wanted to rule, if not the world, than certainly Asia and the Pacific. They waged war on the Chinese, the Koreans, the Russians, basically anyone nearby. They used slave labor, biological and chemical weapons, institutionalized rape, and if you want to get into the really disturbing shit, all sorts of horrific human experimentation on captured citizens and POWs. And even to this day, the Japanese government is largely in denial, refusing to admit that much of it ever happened.
So no, Blizzard should not dress pandaren in Japanese clothing. And the response to complaints from Chinese players should most definitely not be, "suck it up, you're all Asian, right?"
This is a game Blizzard has to sell in China, absolutely must. They comprise the largest single playerbase for WoW in the world. Blizzard at least owes it to them to be racially and culturally sensitive in this regard.
More importantly, I believe that Blizzard owes it to all of their consumers to put the kind of thought and effort that into developing this content that will make it cohesive and logical. Most Western developers don't get this right. The only good example I can name is Kamigawa in Magic the Gathering, which was designed to be both uniquely Japanese and uniquely original. Blizzard needs to do the same thing with Pandaria.
Tristan Oct 29th 2011 3:47PM
Not to interupt the China hate, but China finding Pandas dressed like Samurai disgusting is not "horrible racist bigotry". In World War 2 China was Japan's Jew. World War 2 actually began with Japan invading China whilst China was in the grips of a Civil War (Communists fighting a corrupt Imperial Government). Japan viewed, and still does view, the Chinese as less than human. There is a famous slaughter called the Rape of Nanjing (sp?) where the Japanese took over the Chinese city and performed some of the worst war crimes in human history. Japan still has not apologized for their actions there and until recently denied that it happened.
In other words, blaming China for hating the Japanese is like blaming the Jews for hating the Nazis. Before commenting on racial tension and picking a side, you might want to look up some History first.
Thomas Higgins Oct 30th 2011 2:52AM
The main reason why the Japanese, the Chinese and the Koreans hate each others guts has nothing really to do with the events of the last century, shocking though they undoubtedly were. Indeed, they have been killing each other for a good few hundred years before Nanking was even thought of, let alone blitzed from the air and stormed by Imperial Japanese soldiers. It is simply because they, at root, share a common genotype. And they hate being reminded of it.