The recent severe punishment of a show producer has cast a chill on the Chinese cultural milieu, reminding us that free artistic expression is increasingly limited. Last week, authorities fined production company Xiaoguo Culture Media nearly two million euros and suspended its shows after a comedian's joke about the People's Liberation Army (PLA) was deemed inappropriate.
Comedian Li Haoshi hijacked a famous army slogan which authorities said was a violation of the law and had "negative consequences" on society. China's art scene has always been censored by the Communist Party, but under President Xi Jinping's decade, authorities stepped up surveillance.
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Fears of the cultural community
The sanction imposed on Xiaoguo reflects the fact that "the margin of tolerance of the authorities regarding non-conformist speech is even smaller," said Vivienne Shue, an expert on contemporary China at the University of Oxford. Previously, "it was more common" to see people transgressing the line "get away with a simple warning," she said. In Li Haoshi's case, the authorities fined Xiaoguo and opened an investigation against the comedian.
According to Steve Tsang, of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London, this sanction "was clearly pronounced" to arouse fear within the cultural community. As a result of this sanction, musical and comedy performances were cancelled throughout the country. In some cases, "force majeure" was invoked, but in others no reason was given.
Cancelled concerts and shows
Japanese musician Kanho Yakushiji's concerts, scheduled for Hangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing, have been cancelled and the artist said on Instagram that he did not know why. An employee of a theater in Shantou (south) claimed that a rock concert was postponed without him knowing why. Several artists contacted by AFP did not want to comment on the current climate, fearing that it would aggravate the situation.
Stand-ups, which are relatively new to China, are particularly risky because "it's hard to know what the limits are," said Xiaoning Lu of SOAS. Some nationalists consider them an imported product of the West, she said.
'The right political orientation'
The Communist Party has always drastically controlled the artistic milieu, co-opting some for political propaganda purposes and suppressing all those bordering on dissent. For the founder of Communist China Mao Zedong, there was no "art detached or independent of politics". "Censorship and self-censorship have always existed even if their intensity has been different from one era to another," said Sheng Zou of Hong Kong Baptist University. In recent years, the government has issued new "moral guidelines" requiring comedians to embody positivity and patriotism. He also lashed out at what he calls "abnormal aesthetics" in the media, with images of effeminate-looking men in his sights. Last week, Xi wrote to staff at the National Art Museum of China, urging them to "adhere to the right political orientation," according to state media.
In announcing the fine imposed on the show producer, the authorities said they hoped that "writers and artists (will comply) with laws and regulations, correct their creative thinking (and) strengthen their moral culture". "The limits of proper humor have always been elastic in China, depending on the political climate," said Xiaoning Lu of SOAS. With the Xiaoguo incident, a new red line was set, for Vivienne Shue of Oxford. The military institution should be considered "sacred" and should not be a subject of jokes, she said.
These new limits are in line with the nationalist spirit that Xi Jinping has personally promoted since coming to power. He frequently referred to the slogan mocked by Li Haoshi and praised the strength of the military in national news campaigns. "In China, anything that undermines national dignity and pride is not trivial," said Sheng Zou of Baptist University. "This is where the interests of the state and public opinion most often come together."