Hong Kong Motion Picture Rating System - History

History

At the beginning of the film industry in Hong Kong, when the viewing of movies had no age restrictions, films were made under strict guidelines. For instance, movie characters were not allowed to get away with crimes, and sex scenes were not permitted. In 1986, with the release of John Woo's violent gangster movie A Better Tomorrow (later rated IIB), the general public became concerned about the influence films had on children. As a result, the Hong Kong motion picture rating system was established under the Movie Screening Ordinance Cap.392 on 10 November 1988. The purpose behind the law was to provide parents of minors a chance to prevent their children from being exposed to inappropriate materials.

The ratings were previously issued by the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority, and initially provided three levels of ratings, which led the slang term "three-tier ratings" (Chinese: 三級制) to popular usage.

In 1995, the ratings were amended, creating three levels of main ratings, and two sub-ratings for one level.

Read more about this topic:  Hong Kong Motion Picture Rating System

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    Three million of such stones would be needed before the work was done. Three million stones of an average weight of 5,000 pounds, every stone cut precisely to fit into its destined place in the great pyramid. From the quarries they pulled the stones across the desert to the banks of the Nile. Never in the history of the world had so great a task been performed. Their faith gave them strength, and their joy gave them song.
    William Faulkner (1897–1962)

    What you don’t understand is that it is possible to be an atheist, it is possible not to know if God exists or why He should, and yet to believe that man does not live in a state of nature but in history, and that history as we know it now began with Christ, it was founded by Him on the Gospels.
    Boris Pasternak (1890–1960)

    ... that there is no other way,
    That the history of creation proceeds according to
    Stringent laws, and that things
    Do get done in this way, but never the things
    We set out to accomplish and wanted so desperately
    To see come into being.
    John Ashbery (b. 1927)