China has banned 120 “immoral” songs and ordered Web site administrators to remove them from their sites amid a broadening crackdown on the country’s Internet content.
The Chinese Ministry of Culture on Monday said the 120 songs “trumpeted obscenity, violence, crime or harmed social morality” and those responsible for Web site content would face “severe punishment” if they were not taken down.
Five songs by the Taiwanese singer Chang Chen-yue (張震嶽), also known as A-yue (阿嶽) are included on the list, including I Love Taiwanese Girls, with the line “I don’t like Chinese women, I love Taiwanese girls,” and the song Fart, which includes the line: “There are some people in the world who like farting while doing nothing.”
Another song by Chinese singer Xu Song (許嵩) called Shaking Your Head For Fun sounds the same as “head-shaking pill,” slang for the drug ecstasy.
The banned list — which contains many household names and karaoke favorites such as Beijing Hooligans, Don’t Want to Go to School and Suicide Diary — has been met with a mixed reaction online.
Some commenters supported the blacklisting: “Thumbs up! Such bad taste and vulgarity. You can tell just by looking at the names!”
Other comments on China’s social media platform Sina Weibo were more sarcastic.
“Thank you Ministry of Culture for the recommendations!” wrote Weibo user LeOn-Off.
“This is why Chinese hip-hop culture will never rise,” one said.
Xinhua news agency said the list would be updated regularly.
The music ban comes after an announcement in June that 38 Japanese manga cartoons would be blacklisted from appearing online.
At the time, 29 Web sites received warnings or fines for carrying shows that “encourage juvenile delinquency, glorify violence and include sexual content,” state media reported.
In a speech to some of China’s leading artists last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) said their work should present socialist values and not carry the “stench of money.”
The speech was immediately compared by state media with Mao Zedong’s (毛澤東) famous Yanan talks on art and literature in 1942.
A string of rape and assault allegations against the son of Norway’s future queen have plunged the royal family into its “biggest scandal” ever, wrapping up an annus horribilis for the monarchy. The legal troubles surrounding Marius Borg Hoiby, the 27-year-old son born of a relationship before Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s marriage to Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon, have dominated the Scandinavian country’s headlines since August. The tall strapping blond with a “bad boy” look — often photographed in tuxedos, slicked back hair, earrings and tattoos — was arrested in Oslo on Aug. 4 suspected of assaulting his girlfriend the previous night. A photograph
The US deployed a reconnaissance aircraft while Japan and the Philippines sent navy ships in a joint patrol in the disputed South China Sea yesterday, two days after the allied forces condemned actions by China Coast Guard vessels against Philippine patrol ships. The US Indo-Pacific Command said the joint patrol was conducted in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone by allies and partners to “uphold the right to freedom of navigation and overflight “ and “other lawful uses of the sea and international airspace.” Those phrases are used by the US, Japan and the Philippines to oppose China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the
‘GOOD POLITICS’: He is a ‘pragmatic radical’ and has moderated his rhetoric since the height of his radicalism in 2014, a lecturer in contemporary Islam said Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is the leader of the Islamist alliance that spearheaded an offensive that rebels say brought down Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and ended five decades of Baath Party rule in Syria. Al-Jolani heads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in Syria’s branch of al-Qaeda. He is a former extremist who adopted a more moderate posture in order to achieve his goals. Yesterday, as the rebels entered Damascus, he ordered all military forces in the capital not to approach public institutions. Last week, he said the objective of his offensive, which saw city after city fall from government control, was to
‘KAMPAI’: It is said that people in Japan began brewing rice about 2,000 years ago, with a third-century Chinese chronicle describing the Japanese as fond of alcohol Traditional Japanese knowledge and skills used in the production of sake and shochu distilled spirits were approved on Wednesday for addition to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list, a committee of the UN cultural body said It is believed people in the archipelago began brewing rice in a simple way about two millennia ago, with a third-century Chinese chronicle describing the Japanese as fond of alcohol. By about 1000 AD, the imperial palace had a department to supervise the manufacturing of sake and its use in rituals, the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association said. The multi-staged brewing techniques still used today are
RSS