'The Empress of China' Returns on New Year Without Cleavage

China's television drama, 'The Empress of China' returned after a brief disappearance with close up shots of the characters so as to prevent the audience from seeing images of the actresses wearing dresses with low-cut neckline.

This new 'anti-cleavage' campaign of China has drawn criticism from various corners, with tens of thousands of users taking to social media to voice their concerns regarding the decision to edit the 'cleavage' scenes.

The Chinese television drama was taken off Hunan TV in December due to "technical reasons". However, now it is being speculated that the step was taken to punish producers for the 'revealing' outfits that the female characters donned in the show.

"Many viewers speculated the suspension was a punishment given by the country's television regulators for the much-discussed revealing costumes of female characters on the show, which stirred online debate in which the female characters were dubbed 'squeezed breasts'," Xinhua - the state news agency - reported.

The move is being touted as "China's tightening hold on the media" by the Wall Street Journal.

Sina Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, conducted a survey among more than 85,000 users, with the question - 'Cleavage scenes cut, yes or no?'.

As many as 95 percent or 81,685 users voted 'No' to show disapproval of the decision to cut the scenes, while the rest said 'Yes', according to China Daily.

"The Empress of China" is based on the story of Wu Zetian, the only female emperor of the country from the Tang Dynasty, is said to be the most expensive television show in China and extremely popular in the country.

The Chinese government has been pushing for greater focus on Chinese culture and has also occasionally clamped down on traditions seen to be influenced by the West. Several schools and colleges had also banned Christmas last December, asking students to focus on Chinese traditions instead.