By Peter Berton

HUNAN PROVINCE – The life of an official content evaluator in China is full of shame and health risks, according to those inside the system. A recent television broadcast laid bare the censors’ pitiable existence by interviewing a wizened bureaucrat whose job is to review seized porn videos.

At first, the experience “was awkward, my face and ears turned red and my heart skipped a beat,” Liu Xiaozhen, 70, recalled of his first day on the job. “You have to watch even if you don’t want to watch. But when you’re in this job, you have to watch very closely, and once you’ve watched, you classify.”

According to a report in Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, suspicious DVDs are to be classified as “pornographic,” “obscene,” or “other.” (One has to wonder if “other” is an official euphemism for “so arousing, I had to sneak it out of the office.”)

As a member of Hunan Province’s Eliminate Pornography and Illegal Publications office, Liu certainly has his work cut out for him: He and three other staff members were given just a week to determine how many of the 700 DVDs seized in April merited legal action by the public prosecutor.

“The requirements for becoming a member of his team do not seem high,” the South China Morning Post observed. “One has to be married and to have undergone training….”

The report also noted the Hunan office is staffed by middle-aged men.