Top Gun photoshop fail
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Imagine running propaganda and forgetting to blur the Top Gun logo. Peak CCTV. Even the Chinese can’t bear to see it! #TopGun pic.twitter.com/p0gs5X1MK7
— The Great Translation Movement 大翻译运动 (@TGTM_Official) September 23, 2025
The comments in green sinographs are those of netizens who posted this howler on social media. The green lines in English simply translate the netizen comments say.
Here's what the original propaganda / crawler lines at the bottom in white say:
Dōngbù zhànqū kōngjūn hángkōngbīng mǒu lǚ fēixíngyuán zhōuxiǎofēng:
东部战区空军航空兵某旅飞行员周晓峰:
"Zhou Xiaofeng, a pilot from an aviation brigade of the Eastern Theater Command Air Force"
'Wǒ xiāngxìn wǒ de zǔguó yīdìng néng zài bèihòu gěi wǒ qiángdà de zhīchí'"
'我相信我的祖国一定能在背后给我强大的支持'"
'I believe that my motherland will give me strong support behind the scenes.'"
Before the advent of The Great Translation Movement (TGTM), which Xi Jinping and Wang Yi viscerally loathe, I myself — as a dedicated amateur — used to find countless gaffes and goofs, booboos and blunders of this sort in Chinese propaganda photos and videos about space probes, military aviation, naval maneuvers, underwater exploration, etc., etc., etc. — so much so that I barely believe any of their claims in these affairs.
Selected readings
- "Translation strategies: open protest at Sitong (Four-Way) Bridge" (10/20/22)
- "Political regulation of Chinese languages" (10/5/22)
- "The Great Translation Movement" (4/19/22)
- "Malign Woodpeckers and Other Hegemonic Behavior" (4/18/22) — with lengthy bibliography
[Thanks to Mark Metcalf]
Jonathan Smith said,
October 4, 2025 @ 10:47 pm
This guy has a sticker on his helmet right? That is the fail?
wgj said,
October 5, 2025 @ 12:54 am
I too fail to see what the "fail" is in this case. Are people suggesting this video is not a real capture of Chinese military but a stolen scene from Top Gun? That's a quite an extraordinary claim which should only be taken seriously if someone can find the matching scene in the movie – surely it won't be so hard if that's the case. Or are people saying the video is authentic – too authentic in fact, because it's revealed PLA soldiers to be naive fans of US military propaganda masquerading as Hollywood flick?
And why are "the Chinese" writing in traditional characters? Looks more like foreign agitators pretending to be Chinese netizens, if I were to apply the same level of paranoia as this Twitter post.
Laura Morland said,
October 5, 2025 @ 2:01 am
@ wgj
You wrote: "Are people suggesting this video is not a real capture of Chinese military but a stolen scene from Top Gun?"
Exactly that. See: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-12321492
Mark Metcalf said,
October 5, 2025 @ 2:20 am
It looks like this isn’t the first time this image has been discussed. Based on a 2023 RFA post, the Top Gun logo could be a case of ‘pilots being pilots.’ AMHIK. Ah, the joys of open source analysis!
Here’s a Google translated version of the RFA analysis of the image from September 2023. The post includes images which correspond to the translated captions.
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/shishi-hecha/hc-09192023150643.html
Fact Check | Is the pilot in the CCTV footage from the PLA with "TOP GUN" on his helmet?
By Dong Zhe, Taipei
September 19, 2023, 3:12 PM EDT
(Photo: RFA)
Verification result: Correct
A screenshot from a CCTV military channel program recently circulated on Twitter (originally from Twitter) . It showed a PLA pilot wearing a "Top Gun" sticker on his helmet. The tweeter claimed that "CCTV's J-20 fighter jet plagiarized a photo of an American pilot." The Asia Fact-Checking Lab consulted with several military experts and confirmed that the image was of a J-10 fighter jet, not a plagiarized photo of a US pilot.
In-depth analysis:
A blogger recently posted a screenshot of a CCTV7 (CCTV National Defense and Military Channel) program on X (formerly Twitter). In the picture, the pilot's helmet was labeled with the "TOP GUN" logo representing the top US military pilots in the American movie "Top Gun". The blogger commented that "CCTV's J-20 stole the photo of an American pilot."
Netizens commented, "In a country of liars, no one believes the government even if it tells the truth, so they just lie," and "Alas! The great Walled Country fakes everything!"
A screenshot of a CCTV program circulating online showed a "TOP GUN" sticker on a pilot's helmet, prompting netizens to question whether it was stolen (Photo/Twitter screenshot)
A screenshot of a CCTV program circulating online showed a "TOP GUN" sticker on a pilot's helmet, prompting netizens to question whether it was stolen (Photo/Twitter screenshot)
Is the fighter jet in the picture the PLA’s J-20?
First, in order to confirm whether the fighter jet in the picture is the J-20, the Asian Fact-Checking Lab separately interviewed two military experts and researchers.
Dr. Shu Xiaohuang, an associate researcher at the Institute of Chinese Political, Military and Operational Concepts at the Taiwan Institute for National Defense and Security, told us that taking the US F-22 and the Chinese J-20 as examples, both have outward-inclined double vertical tails, and to emphasize stealth, there are no exposed antennas on the top of the aircraft's vertical tails. The antenna in the photo is exposed (in the red circle).
Experts say the antenna in the red circle in the image should not appear on the US F-22 or China's J-20 aircraft (Photo/Twitter screenshot)
Experts say the antenna in the red circle in the image should not appear on the US F-22 or China's J-20 aircraft (Photo/Twitter screenshot)
Joseph Wen, a PLA expert and creator of the interactive map "People's Liberation Army Bases and Facilities" and an adjunct researcher at the Taiwan Strategic Simulation Society, compared the J-10 with a photograph. The photograph shows a single vertical tail fin, which the J-10 has (circled in blue), while the J-20 has two. Furthermore, the J-20's ejection detonator line above the cockpit is S-shaped, while the J-10's is a straight line (circled in red), a feature consistent with the photograph.
The J-10 has a single vertical tail (circled in blue), while the J-20 has two. Furthermore, the J-20's ejection detonator line above the cockpit is S-shaped, while the J-10's is a straight line (circled in red). (Photo courtesy of Joseph Wen Productions)
The J-10 has a single vertical tail (circled in blue), while the J-20 has two. Furthermore, the J-20's ejection detonator line above the cockpit is S-shaped, while the J-10's is a straight line (circled in red). (Photo courtesy of Joseph Wen Productions)
According to the above experts, the fighter jet in the photo should be the J-10 and not the J-20 as claimed by the original blogger.
Do PLA helmets really have TOP GUN stickers?
The American film "Top Gun," set in the training and development of US Marine Corps pilots, is a beloved classic. During production, the 2022 release of "Top Gun: Maverick" sparked controversy over the removal of the Taiwanese and Japanese flags from the film's protagonist's clothing. The film also experienced controversy, with Tencent withdrawing its investment due to deteriorating Sino-US relations. The "TOP GUN" sticker, representing the US military's top pilot, appearing on the helmets of PLA pilots seems politically incorrect.
To verify the tweeter's claim, the Asia Fact-Checking Lab located the original source in the comments section of the tweet, which turned out to be a mocking tweet from another user on August 1st. The keywords "CCTV 7 National Defense and Military," "Special Program," and "Eastern Theater Command Air Force" appeared in the photo. Combined with the post date of August 1st, 2023, it suggests it was a special program for China's Army Day in 2023.
The Asia Fact-Checking Lab watched the entire episode of CCTV's "2023 August 1st Special Program – Our Festival" but did not find any clips with the same perspective.
We obtained two other screenshots through Shu Xiaohuang, whose source is the Weibo account "Photographer York". The subtitles and the logo in the upper right corner confirmed that they were from the same program. The pilot is Zhou Xiaofeng, a pilot of a brigade of the Eastern Theater Command Air Force Aviation Corps, and his helmet does have a "TOP GUN" sticker.
Shu Xiaohuang analyzed that the footage was not fabricated. The pilot in the video is flying a J-10C fighter jet. The video shows him standing in front of the aircraft, with the name "Pilot Zhou Xiaofeng" displayed, clearly indicating he belongs to a brigade in the Eastern Theater Command. While many democratic militaries allow soldiers to display personal adornments, it's unclear whether the PLA Air Force also allows this. Therefore, the sticker on the helmet may have been the pilot's personal decision, "but CCTV clearly failed to recognize the 'politically incorrect' message conveyed by the sticker during the broadcast."
The pilot in the picture is said to belong to a brigade in the Eastern Theater Command (Photo/Screenshot of CCTV program provided by Shu Xiaohuang)
The pilot in the picture is said to belong to a brigade in the Eastern Theater Command (Photo/Screenshot of CCTV program provided by Shu Xiaohuang)
As previously mentioned, the relevant footage is no longer available on CCTV's official website. Shu Xiaohuang speculated that perhaps the program management realized there was something wrong with the footage and urgently removed it. He explained that CCTV's military programs often use remixed clips to obscure time and location to prevent leaks, but "this clip may not have been subject to political censorship."
The Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) is a new organization established in response to today's complex media landscape and emerging communication ecosystems. Based on professional journalism, we provide accurate fact-checking and in-depth reporting, aiming to provide readers with a diverse and comprehensive understanding of public issues. If readers have questions about any information disseminated through media or social media platforms, please email the Asia Fact Check Lab at afcl@rfa.org for verification.
Victor Mair said,
October 5, 2025 @ 6:58 am
N.B.: Many Chinese netizen dissidents are located outside the PRC (i.e., they have literally, physically jumped over the Great Firewall), which is precisely why the CCP hates them so much.
The Great Translation Movement was founded on Reddit in 2022 (February 24-March 2):
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The Great Translation Movement (simplified Chinese: 大翻译运动; traditional Chinese: 大翻譯運動; pinyin: Dà Fānyì Yùndòng; Zhuyin Fuhao: ㄉㄚˋㄈㄢ ㄧˋㄩㄣˋㄉㄨㄥˋ) is an online movement and Twitter account launched in 2022 during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It seeks to document displays of ultranationalist, pro-Russian and anti-Western sentiment in China by translating comments found in the Chinese internet. The languages it has translated to include English, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish. The Guardian observed that the Great Translation Movement has been a source for English-language speakers to understand the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and state media's reaction towards the Russian invasion of Ukraine, although experts cautioned seeing the posts as representative of the Chinese public, citing China's highly censored media environment.
(Wikipedia)
=====
See also this Language Log post for detailed documentation
"The Great Translation Movement" (4/19/22)
For additional documentation on matters that concern TGTM, see China Digital Times, based in the US, but founded (fall 2003) and staffed by Chinese dissident netizens and maintaining close ties with internet users in China who devise new autonomous forms of political expression and dissent, "changing the rules of the game between state and society". (Wikipedia)
~flow said,
October 5, 2025 @ 7:35 am
> why are "the Chinese" writing in traditional characters?
Frankly I can hardly believe even nation-state supported foreign trolls would be stupid enough to make this mistake, so I take it at face value. I also don't know who you want to exclude with quote-unquote "the Chinese". I don't know what's it like these days but it used to be the case that the farther south you go, the more traditional writing you get to see, then there's Macau and Hong Kong, then there's Taiwan, and then there's a sizable diaspora. Also probably a non-zero number of PRC folks who just do it because. Also this was posted on X-twitter and of course I cannot tell you the intended audience, but since it was posted to X-twitter, that intended audience is probably not at this moment spending their time within the confines of the Great Firewall.
Jenny Chu said,
October 5, 2025 @ 7:56 am
To summarize: although there is a previous case from 2011 where footage from the American film Top Gun was mistakenly shown on CCTV and labeled as Chinese military footage, here the gaffe is that an actual Chinese pilot has an American sticker on his helmet and (State sponsored) CCTV failed to blur it out.
Jonathan Smith said,
October 5, 2025 @ 10:25 am
To summarize more, translation check on Mark Metcalf's first RFA fact check: 头盔上贴着“TOP GUN”，央视画面中的飞行员是解放军吗？> Is the pilot with the "TOP GUN" sticker on his helmet in that CCTV image (really) from the PLA?" Answer: YES
Re: 2011, that was footage of an explosion inserted like "stock". Re: this one, let it be noted if not too obvious that a "TOP GUN" sticker in a Top Gun movie would be the real fail…
Gregory Kusnick said,
October 5, 2025 @ 10:27 am
Now that's a video I would watch!