'Pirates' edited for China release

Censors cut Chow Yun-fat scenes

By CLIFFORD COONAN

Chinese auds will get a censored version of 'Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.' Some scenes with actor Chow Yun-fat were trimmed from the pic.

BEIJING -- Chinese auds will get to see a trimmed version of "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" when it opens here Tuesday after censors cut back on a number of scenes featuring Hong Kong star Chow Yun-fat.

According to local media, more than half of the scenes featuring Chow as a Singapore pirate, have been cut, including his recitation of a poem in Cantonese.

A spokesman for Disney said auds would see a Chinese version of the movie and there had been cuts, without elaborating.

China Film initially said it had made no cuts, then declined to comment on a Beijing News report that it had cut scenes involving too much violence and horror.

The report said the cuts make pic difficult to follow.

"The sudden debut of the captain confused the audience at the Beijing screening," the report said.

It also cuts his reading of a poem by Tang dynasty poet Li Bai (701-762) called "Guan Shan Yue" (The Moon Shining Over the Mountain on the Border).

The previous installment in the franchise, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" was banned by the Film Bureau because of scenes of cannibalism and ghosts.