TV Reviews : An American in China Faces ‘Forbidden Love’

When you consider the gnarly politics of China, particularly the massacre at Tian An Men, you don’t quickly think of hugging and kissing and mushy stuff.

In fact, “Forbidden Love,” airing tonight at 9 on CBS (Channels 2 and 8), was 11 years in the foreplay.

Its center is the love story set in 1979 between American Judith Shapiro, who was instructing at Hunan (Province) Teachers’ College, and student Liang Heng, both 26. Shapiro wrote about it in the New York Times in 1981; producer Tristine Rainer (and telewriter here) sold the idea to CBS five years ago; it was just getting the go when the democracy movement exploded last year. A little rewriting was legislated.

Shapiro (played by Melissa Gilbert) is the innocent abroad, via Princeton, Illinois and UC Berkeley. There are sparks with the earnest Heng (Robin Shou). Sparks ignite into undying love.

The concept of living together is deadly dangerous in China and living with a foreigner is not even conceivable. In a twist of plot that you wouldn’t dare dream except that it was true, the lovers get permission to marry via the exalted Mao’s Central Committee in Peking, which gave them the greatest protection of the realm.

This is all set against the glum reality of Chinese life and laws. It’s instructive but plodding; you have to wade through deep seas of polemics.

The couple had long since moved to the United States before Tian An Men Square, and the wrap-up is rushed and insufficient, as an afterthought.

(Epilogue: Life can be insufficient too. Producer Rainer reports that the couple have separated.)