There are already Chinese versions of plenty of BBC programs including Dancing with the Stars and Top Gear, but The Office is a bit different in that it's not about the glitz and the glamor, but rather all about the average worker who plugs away at their dead-end job. And while that means one thing in the U.K. or the U.S. (or Chile, France, Germany, Israel, and Quebec, where the show has also been licensed), it takes on an entirely different meaning in the People's Republic of China.
To put it bluntly, the average Joe working at the Beijing branch of the Wernham Hogg Paper Co. is subject to the Chinese government's abrogation of their rights to speech, assembly and religion, among others. And for a show set in the workplace, China has a notoriously awful track record for workers' rights, including substandard working conditions, long hours with no overtime, meager wages, and the inability to form unions. There's no shortage of documentation and proof for all of these inequities inflicted by the Chinese government, so Google at your own pace.
This honestly isn't meant to be a political screed. The BBC and Ricky Gervais are obviously free to license their product as they want, just as the average Chinese viewer shouldn't necessarily be deprived of their own version of The Office simply because of the sins of their government. But I can only talk about my own reaction to this news, which is that a comedy about the workplace set in a place where so many workers are denied the everyday rights we take for granted might not be that funny.
ยท Chinese Version Of 'The Office' Is Underway [Deadline]