It started with a steamed bun. Now it's a whole genre, expanding into a popular online contest.

The contest calls for a video parody of originality and humour, wisdom and good will. It is reported the steamed bun initiator himself Hu Ge will be invited to judge the winner.

Hu satirized famous director Chen Kaige's epic film "The Promise" (Wu Ji) by splicing and overdubbing scenes from the US$37.5 million movie into a parody "The Bloody Case That Started From A Steamed Bun."

The parody ironically hinted that all the grandiose plots of the film are based on revenge for a lost steamed bun.

The young Shanghai sound engineer's cheeky sampling received an unprecedented wave of popular acclaim and followers.

Zhou Lucheng is one of them.

Zhou, a digital media major at the Communication University of China in Beijing, is perfecting his entry for "The King of the Steamed Bun" competition launched by www.tianya.com and www.163.com.

Zhou's "Dingfuzhuang News Time" pokes fun at some of the country's news programmes.

Inspired by Hollywood's "Naked Gun" and "Scary Movie" series, Zhou patterns his work on the form, style and the manner anchors broadcast news in news programmes. A solemn actor announces the top news story on campus: "A mouse disturbed the dormitory last night."

"I guarantee my parents won't approve of this," said the 20-year-old, "because watching news programme(s) has become a daily routine for them."

Computer-friendly at 8 years old and surfing online since he was 14, Zhou epitomizes the Web-savvy generation of young Chinese who are making their mark through new technology.

Emerging trend

"Making a parody video is an effective way to identify themselves and create a sub-cultural statement so as to rebel against the status quo," said social observer Luo Ming from Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences in Chengdu.

Hu Ge, a 31-year-old who holds no regular job in Shanghai, was sued was sued for alleged defamation by China's top director Chen Kaige. [file photo]

But it was not until February this year that Hu Ge's 20-minute parody video attracted mainstream media attention to this "sub-culture."

Director Chen threatened to sue Hu, inspiring a fresh wave of spoofs that swept through a chuckling cyberspace.

Chen later dropped his lawsuit when Hu apologized.

More than 1,000 new videos amassed within three months of the "Steamed Bun" dispute, with targets ranging from US President George W. Bush to Superman, according to statistics from the video website MV Club.

"It was Hu Ge who inspired me to realize that we don't have to follow the lead of authority," said 24-year-old Shenzhen native Wuming Zhihai, producer of "When The Master Meets A Steamed Bun."

"We can express our own opinions through parodies."

Steamed bun-themed parodies address a variety of issues such as TV commercials, the materialistic motives of artists and migrant workers compelled to suicide while seeking unpaid back wages.

"Many videos express social concerns which we care about but over which we have no chance to speak out," said Xia Pingting, a junior student at the Communication University of China.

"The merit of video parodies lies more in the idea than in the production since many of them are rather technically coarse."

"Burlesque" might be a better word to describe the style of such videos, said Zhu Dake, a culture critic from Tongji University in Shanghai. "Burlesque," he said, "really helps release anxiety rising from the struggle against an aged mainstream culture, while stimulating vigour and originality."

"Parody videos run the risk of degrading into vulgarity," admitted Zhou. "Some even to the extent of disgusting, containing pornography or violence."

Beijing-based portal websites including Sina.com, Sohu.com, and Baidu.com have proposed joint efforts to boycott such indecent online materials.

Their concerns over the new video frenzy fall into two categories: Possible copyright violation of original work, and how far a parody pushes the limits of political and social morals.

Concerns remain

The Copyright Law of China allows "a reasonable minimum quotation of other's works for the purpose of introducing something or clarifying one's own ideas," said Wang Ziqiang, a spokesman for the National Copyright Bureau. More detailed rules on the Internet will be produced at the end of this year, he said.

More controversial is the second category: As demonstrated by "The Shining Red Star," a video based on a classic movie about the Red Army fighting the Kuomintang regime in the 1930s. The parody tampers with the boy protagonist, replacing his idealistic inspiration with a so-called "yearning for popular stardom."

The film's original producer was outraged, according to Beijing Youth Daily.

The film came out in 1973. It has been considered a classic in Chinese film history. The protagonists, many of them communists left the audience with sweet memories in an era of high political pressure and scarce entertainment, compared with other movies made during the "cultural revolution" (1966-76), said the cinematographer Cai Jiwei.

Satirist Hu Daoge immediately apologized to the military August First Film Studio, declaring that he was "greatly touched and educated by their sincere criticism."

Min Dahong, director of the Internet and Digital Media Research Office at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that "there are basic social values that we should honour and should never violate."

However, Zhou suggested that maybe there's no need to make such a fuss.

"The dispute only enhances the popularity of the parody which could have faded away quickly in the information sea of the Internet," Zhou said.

Easy software facilitates personal video-making, while Broadband enables the prevalence of such videos, said Peking University professor Chen Xuguang, who researches movie culture. "That's especially true of youth, who are always pioneers in new technology."

A recent survey conducted by the Internet Society of China suggested that cyber blogging will play an increasingly important role in diffusing information, enhancing the share and distribution of audio and video productions. The podcast, a method to publish and download personal video and audio works, is sizzling hot in China, the survey concludes.

"For youngsters who turn down authoritative notions and desire to express their feelings and ideas, a movie is out of reach, while the Web is far more accessible. It could be regarded as a subversion of traditional film by new media."

Zhou Lucheng said it's only a joke. "It just occurred to me that to mock a poker-faced reportage must be funny," he said, while preparing to upload it to www.ourdv.com where "more of my peers can share my idea."