Production company in NW China apologizes for mocking Chinese martyr

BEIJING - A video production company in northwest China's Shaanxi Province has issued an official apology for mocking Chinese revolutionary figure Ye Ting in a video clip it produced, following a court order in September.

The apology was published in Monday's China Youth Daily by Xi'an Momo Tech Company, the host of video streaming channel Baozoumanhua.

"We feel sorry and remorseful for causing emotional distress to Ye's family and hurting the national and historical feelings of the public," said the firm in the apology, stressing that it would respect history and promote healthy trends in the future.

In a video clip the company produced and posted in May, a famous poem by Ye was altered to ridicule "painless abortions." The video was widely circulated on Chinese media and denounced by the public for its disrespectful alteration of the martyr's work.

In September, a court found the company guilty of humiliating the revolutionary martyr and tarnishing his reputation, and ordered it to apologize and pay 100,000 yuan (14,514 US dollars) to Ye's family members as compensation, citing a law to protect the reputation and honor of martyrs.

Ye Ting was a revolutionary martyr who was remembered as an unyielding hero refusing to succumb to enemies. The poem distorted in the video clip was written when Ye was imprisoned by the enemy and revealed his will to fight.