Popular Chinese novelist and screenwriter Guo Jingming may have finally apologised for plagiarising another writer’s work on the last day of 2020 – some 14 years after a court ordered him to do so – but has he been forgiven?

A recent blockbuster film directed by him was abruptly pulled from cinemas across China this week. While the reason for its withdrawal is unknown, those in the industry suspect it has something to do with Guo’s now tarnished reputation.