China has banned hip-hop songs and actors with tattoos from appearing on television shows, the Time magazine reported on Monday. In its new guidelines, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television said hip-hop represented a decadent culture.
Hip-hop is still young and developing in the country. It gained popularity among youngsters in 2017 with the TV show “Rap of China”, Reuters reported.
Singers Wang Hao, who goes by the name “PG One”, and Zhou Yan, known as “GAI” (pictured above), had won the show. Both received warnings in recent weeks for allegedly bad behaviour and for performing songs that are at odds with the values of the Communist Party of China.
Last week, GAI was taken off the popular show “The Singer” that airs on Hunan TV. The state-run Xinhua news agency wrote that PG One “does not deserve the stage”, and that “we should say ‘no’ to whoever provides a platform for low-taste content” days after the singer was reprimanded and forced to apologise for “lewd lyrics” in his songs. Rapper Vava was also edited out of the variety show “Happy Camp” on Hunan TV because of her association with hip-hop culture.
This crackdown is part of a broader attempt by the Communist Party to use popular culture for propaganda and close down potential platforms for dissent by the youth. Over the years, Chinese President Xi Jinping has accrued political power to become the country’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.
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