Wong He arrested by plainclothes Public Security while shooting documentary

Wong He, 4 behind-the-scenes TVB staff and a tour guide set off to Chongqing City the day before. They went to shoot a documentary Three Gorges Dam scheduled to release mid-March on Central Broadcasting Station (CBS). Initially, the crew planned to shoot in Chongqing City, Yichang and Wuhan City and ride on the cruise liner to explore the Three Gorges, but on the first day of shooting, they already got interrupted.

Yesterday morning, Wong He arrived at the Three Gorges memorial museum in Chongqing City, the crew already received permission to shoot at the museum, but ended up being surrounded by over 10 plainclothes Public Security members. Everyone had to be checked by them, but Wong He and the photographer were still outside shooting, the museum staff immediately stopped them. The Public Security said Wong He and the crew failed to produce a media accreditation (media pass), so all 6 of them were arrested and taken back to the police station for an hour before they were released. However, for a temporarily time, they are advised not to continue shooting, otherwise there will be a violation. It was understood that the crew had friendly relations at the police station, a female staff even asked Wong He for a picture with her.

Wong He expressed over a long distance phone call: "The Public Security took us to a conference room to disuss with them. The other people were not questioned. When we were being taken to the police station, I didn't know what was going on and was worried. (You were drinking Jasmine tea at the time?) No, nor did we do anything suspicious. I have never been arrested before, later I found out that it was an issue with the media pass, so I wasn't worried anymore. When I got back to the hotel, I saw the calender, it was the rat month, there's two people in the crew born in the year of the rat, no wonder!"

TVB Foreign Affairs Director (Tsang Sing Ming) expressed: "The production group had not got permission, which is what was called the media pass in Mainland. TVB did apply for it, but we did not get it yet. Initially we planned to shoot as we wait, but after the Public Security learned that we were just shooting a documentary, they just advised us to temporarily not continue the shoot yet. This time the administration was impatient. In this type of situation, TVB already communicated with the crew, wait until the pass comes out before we continue shooting. If it doesn't work out, then will have to come back to HK."

Source: Oriental Daily
Translated by: aZnangel @ AsianEU