TV & VIDEO - July 24, 1987

Chinese authorities burned 34,000 pornographic and “reactionary” video and audio cassettes at a ceremony attended by Peking city leaders, the People’s Daily newspaper reported Thursday. They included films containing sex and violence, illegal copies of legitimate cassettes, and music tapes of “reactionary songs,” the report said, not giving specifics. Earlier this year, authorities confiscated millions of copies of illegally published books in a campaign linked to China’s drive against the spread of Western ideas. Among the banned works is the Chinese-language version of D. H. Lawrence’s “Lady Chatterley’s Lover.”