Video streaming websites in China have been ordered to stop showing four popular American TV shows, including The Big Bang Theory and The Good Wife.

中国多家视频流媒体网站被勒令停止播放4部当红美剧，包括《生活大爆炸》和《傲骨贤妻》。

The move suggests government attention is intensifying¹ on the online industry, which is freer than state television and China’s cinemas to show foreign productions and other content and has stretched the boundaries of what can be seen in the country.

中国的网络对国外影视作品的态度一向比电视业和电影院更加开放，对于影视作品的内容限制更低。勒令美剧下架意味着中国政府加大了对网络的监管力度。

A spokeswoman for a leading video site, Youku, said on Sunday it had received notification² not to show sitcom³ The Big Bang Theory, political and legal drama The Good Wife, crime drama NCIS and legal drama The Practice.

优酷的发言人周日发表声明称，网站已经收到通知禁止播放情景喜剧《生活大爆炸》、律政剧《傲骨贤妻》、探案剧《海军犯罪调查处 NCIS》以及法庭剧《律师本色》。

The edict, which was identical to the one sent to Youku and other companies, also listed a Chinese slapstick miniseries made by another site, Sohu, as having to be removed.

和优酷及其他公司一样，搜狐也被勒令停止播放网站自制的一部幽默短剧。

Online streaming sites regularly receive orders to take down Chinese or foreign TV programs and movies, but usually because the regulator considers them too salacious or violent or because they infringe⁴ copyright laws.

在线视频网站经常会收到禁止播放国内外电视节目或电影的指令，但通常是由于监管者认为这些视频太过色情或暴力，或者是涉及到侵犯版权问题。

Sohu’s most popular US shows are crime drama Nikita — episodes⁵ from the first and second seasons have been watched a combined total of 472 million times — and Masters of Sex, which weren’t included in the order.

搜狐最火的美剧是《尼基塔》和《性爱大师》，《尼基塔》前两季的观看次数达到了4.72亿次，这两部剧并不在勒令下架的范围内。