China yesterday banned reality talent programs and ordered broadcasters to promote more masculine representations of men, in a wide-ranging crackdown on “immoral” pop culture that Beijing believes is leading young people astray.
Talent shows that put hundreds of aspiring young performers through rigorous boot camps and subject them to public votes have become massively popular in China, sparking criticism over obsessive fans and poor role models.
“Broadcast and TV institutions must not screen idol development programs or variety shows and reality shows,” China’s National Radio and Television Administration said in a raft of new regulations.
Photo: Reuters
The regulator ordered broadcasters to resist “vulgar influencers,” inflated financial rewards, and performers with “lapsed morals” and “abnormal aesthetics,” such as “sissy” men.
Faced with falling birthrates, Chinese authorities have tried to instill traditional masculine values in the country’s youth by ramping up gym classes and criticizing male entertainers who model the effeminate looks of South Korean pop idols. Instead, broadcasters were urged to “strongly promote outstanding traditional Chinese culture ... and advanced socialist culture.”
Popular Chinese blogger Feng Xiaoyi last week had his account suspended by Douyin for “promoting unhealthy values,” after some users complained about his “sissy” videos. Video streaming site iQiyi last week said it would cancel all future idol talent shows that are in development.
Chinese authorities began a wide-ranging crackdown on dodgy financial practices and “immoral” conduct in the entertainment sector after numerous scandals implicated some of the nation’s biggest entertainers.
Chinese actress Zheng Shuang (鄭爽) was fined the equivalent of US$46 million for tax evasion last week, while Chinese-Canadian pop star and former idol Kris Wu (吳亦凡) has been detained on rape allegations. At the same time, regulators have vowed to curb the behavior of China’s “chaotic” fandoms, such as what they deem to be irrational celebrity worship.
Beijing TV regulators abruptly took the popular talent show Youth With You 3 off the air in May, after fans resorted to buying and dumping massive quantities of yogurt to vote for their favorite contestants.
Such shows often urge fans to buy sponsored products in order to vote, but the new regulations ban this practice.
END OF AN ERA: The vote brings the curtain down on 20 years of socialist rule, which began in 2005 when Evo Morales, an indigenous coca farmer, was elected president A center-right senator and a right-wing former president are to advance to a run-off for Bolivia’s presidency after the first round of elections on Sunday, marking the end of two decades of leftist rule, preliminary official results showed. Bolivian Senator Rodrigo Paz was the surprise front-runner, with 32.15 percent of the vote cast in an election dominated by a deep economic crisis, results published by the electoral commission showed. He was followed by former Bolivian president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga in second with 26.87 percent, according to results based on 92 percent of votes cast. Millionaire businessman Samuel Doria Medina, who had been tipped
ELECTION DISTRACTION? When attention shifted away from the fight against the militants to politics, losses and setbacks in the battlefield increased, an analyst said Recent clashes in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Jubaland region are alarming experts, exposing cracks in the country’s federal system and creating an opening for militant group al-Shabaab to gain ground. Following years of conflict, Somalia is a loose federation of five semi-autonomous member states — Puntland, Jubaland, Galmudug, Hirshabelle and South West — that maintain often fractious relations with the central government in the capital, Mogadishu. However, ahead of elections next year, Somalia has sought to assert control over its member states, which security analysts said has created gaps for al-Shabaab infiltration. Last week, two Somalian soldiers were killed in clashes between pro-government forces and
Ten cheetah cubs held in captivity since birth and destined for international wildlife trade markets have been rescued in Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia. They were all in stable condition despite all of them having been undernourished and limping due to being tied in captivity for months, said Laurie Marker, founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, which is caring for the cubs. One eight-month-old cub was unable to walk after been tied up for six months, while a five-month-old was “very malnourished [a bag of bones], with sores all over her body and full of botfly maggots which are under the
BRUSHED OFF: An ambassador to Australia previously said that Beijing does not see a reason to apologize for its naval exercises and military maneuvers in international areas China set off alarm bells in New Zealand when it dispatched powerful warships on unprecedented missions in the South Pacific without explanation, military documents showed. Beijing has spent years expanding its reach in the southern Pacific Ocean, courting island nations with new hospitals, freshly paved roads and generous offers of climate aid. However, these diplomatic efforts have increasingly been accompanied by more overt displays of military power. Three Chinese warships sailed the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand in February, the first time such a task group had been sighted in those waters. “We have never seen vessels with this capability
RSS