Elements of hip-hop, jewelry and tattoos have been banned from Chinese television.
China has banned anything related to hip-hop culture and musicians and actors with tattoos, piercings and certain jewellery from appearing on television in the country.
It comes as no surprise. The country of over one billion residents is run by the Chinese Communist Party which places a strong emphasis on its control of the media.
According to Sina, a Chinese News outlet, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People’s Republic of China (SAPPRFT) made the announcement on January 19.
The body now requires that programs on Chinese television stations should not feature “actors with tattoos [or depict] hip-hop culture, sub-culture (non-mainstream culture) and dispirited culture (decadent culture),” Sina reports.
“4 Dont’s”
The body’s head of Publicity, Gao Chengli came out not long after to outline the new rules or the “4 Dont’s” as they are now called.
One provides that Chinese stations “… absolutely do not use actors whose heart and morality are not aligned with the party and whose morality is not noble”
The second requires that they “… absolutely do not use actors who are tasteless, vulgar and obscene”.
Another of the demands is that Chinese programs and movies “… absolutely do not use actors whose ideological level is low and have no class”
Finally, it is required that they “… absolutely do not use actors with stains, scandals and problematic moral integrity”.
The ban is somewhat reactionary, yet it is not inconsistent with the tone of the Chinese government.
Western culture is the enemy
In recent years, American pop culture, facets like hip-hop and other popular practices and elements like tattoos, jewellery, street fashion and more have made inroads into the Asian society.
The biggest evidence could be seen in Korea, where K-Pop has grown to become a genre of considerable international reckoning.
In the wake of its growth, hip-hop groups and artistes have emerged. Most of them are modelled after the most popular American stars; they dress like them, move like them, act like them.
In China, there is an entire wave of such stars who enjoy a large following across the country, and the continent, to an extent.
But all that may be set to end.
The ban comes after GAI, real name: Zhou Yan, one of China’s most prominent rappers was removed from Hunan TV’s Singer, a hit competition show.
Clips in which GAI appeared were also removed from China Hunan TV’s official Youtube Channel. No official explanation has been given.
This comes across as another effort by the Chinese government to keep Western Culture out of the country.
As it stands, the government makes its best effort to ensure that Chinese practices, traditions and ideals are maintained and projected into daily life.
Western pop culture, with its no-holds-barred content, is seen as low in morals and very destructive, in both a cultural and political sense.
Give us our Hip-Hop!
The Chinese government may have its reasons but the people are having none of it.
The ban has not caused any major ruckus on social media, mostly because most Chinese use their own government-validated social media platforms.
“SARPPFT is so trashy! They didn’t want to give Chinese hip pop singers any chance of survival! we can go back to ancient times,” wrote one user on Weibo — China’s equivalent of Twitter.
This form of government control of media is not entirely strange.
In Nigeria, the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation routinely bans music and movies for low moral standards, encouraging illegal behaviour or explicit content.
What has happened in China, though, is the banning of an entire culture.
It will be interesting to see how the stars and the rest of Chinese society react to this in the long run.
Source: Pulse.ng
