NYTimes.com: China to Pull Back 'Avatar' for Domestic Film

China only allows 20 foreign films a year to be shown in theaters. Industry analysts say China Film Group Corporation, a state-run enterprise, heavily influences if not controls decisions on how long and where foreign firms are shown.

David Wolf, the president and chief executive of Wolf Group Asia, a corporate consultancy based in Beijing, said that Chinese officials were apparently curbing the run of "Avatar" because they wanted to protect the box office returns of domestic films. He said "Avatar" has already run longer than the typical 10 days allowed for foreign films.

"From the indications I have seen, one, it is a purely commercial decision and two, it seems pretty much routine," he said. "This is about making sure that Chinese films get their fair percentage of the money. This is a politically-driven cinema country, not a market-driven cinema country."

When I read this article, I thought it was another article about Chinese censorship.  But, the reason Avatar is being pulled is to protect the Chinese movie industry.  Why is it that the Chinese are able to protect their industries while we allow whole sections of American industry to disappear?

Just yesterday, there was a story in the NYTimes: Glassmaking Thrives Offshore, but Is Declining in U.S., that describes the decline of the American glass industry and the fact that the new World Trade Center building in NYC will have its lower floors sheathed with glass from China.