The China Probrem/Trivia

Continuity

 * Both Spielberg and Lucas previously appeared in the sixth season episode "Free Hat", and were subsequently killed. Once again they are portrayed as villains who attempt to ruin movies, and once again it is part of the Indiana Jones franchise. In "Free Hat" they attempted to remake Raiders of the Lost Ark after having made a more politically correct and unpopular version of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back as well as similar versions of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and Saving Private Ryan.
 * The restaurant P.F. Chang's also reappears here, having previously been shown in the tenth season episode "A Million Little Fibers" as Towelie's workplace and in the eleventh season episode "More Crap", being where Randy would eat and train to grow his crap.

Cultural References
All of the scenes where George and Steve are raping Indy are references to different films with a rape scene: A Howard the Duck pinball machine is also present in the second rape scene.
 * Boys Don't Cry (lines only)
 * The Accused
 * Deliverance

The cops said that they found a dead Short-Round and Yoda which are movie characters from movies that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg directed. Short Round is Indiana Jones' sidekick in Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom, and Yoda is a Jedi Master who teaches Luke Skywalker The Force.

Reception
The episode premiere drew 3.7 million total viewers, 2.5 million in the 18-49 demographic. This was up 21% from the previous fall's debut and topped all of cable during its time period. It stands as the show's most-watched fall premiere since 1999.

IGN's Travis Fickett gave the episode 9 out of 10 points, praising both storylines and writing that "[t]he show is as funny and as smart as ever — and it's back at just the right time." 411mania's review, written by DC Perry, criticized the episode for using material that felt dated, but described it as "pretty solid" and gave it a rating of 7.3 out of 10.

The episode's rape scenes caused some controversies. The Telegraph's Catherine Elsworth wrote that Parker and Stone seemed "to have taken the taboo-busting to a place even hardened South Park watchers have found hard to go". Nikki Finke reported that her knowledge was that Paramount, which owns the Indiana Jones franchise, had no intention to protest against the episode, but, in the words of an insider, "[wanted] it to go away".