Ignoring that China has a terrible record on human rights, labor conditions, environmental enforcement, and adhering to its trade commitments, Beijing has decided to put its best foot forward with a new movie featuring a Chinese superhero.

The Financial Times reports that the Chinese government is financing a Hollywood movie featuring a Chinese superhero that saves the world and shows that the nation as “one of the good guys":

“The Annihilator, the protagonist of the 3D movie scheduled to open in 2014, ‘trains in Qigong in China and then comes to America, where he becomes a superman by coincidence,’ Wang Guowei, president of National Film Capital, the state-backed film fund, told the FT.  ‘Then he returns to rescue the world – including China – from a crisis. By including the idea of China rescuing the world, it competes with the ‘China threat’ theory.’  China’s ruling Communist party has long lamented that its ‘soft’ power falls far short of that of the US. Efforts to improve matters, however, have been hampered by an overeager propaganda agenda.” 

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