Global Courant 2023-05-17 18:31:32
Beijing fined a Chinese comedy studio about $2 million on Wednesday for a joke comparing the Chinese military to stray dogs.
The Beijing Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau accused a popular comedian, Li Haoshi, who is employed by the studio, of “seriously insulting” the People’s Liberation Army, the Chinese army, during two live performances in Beijing on Saturday. The authority said his prank had a “vicious societal impact”.
“We will not allow any company or individual to willfully defame the glorious image of the People’s Liberation Army,” the statement said.
The authority also said it has indefinitely suspended all Beijing performances hosted by the studio, Shanghai-based Xiaoguo Culture Media. The agency also seized about $180,000 of what officials described as illicit income uncovered during the investigation, which began Monday. Officials in Shanghai followed suit, suspending all Xiaoguo performances there and ordering the company to “deeply reflectabout the lessons learned from the incident, according to a government social media account.
The investigation was launched after a recording of Mr. Li’s prank was posted on social media. In it, Mr. Li described a scene in which his two adopted stray dogs chased a squirrel. The ferocity of the dogs’ pursuit, he said, reminded him of a well-known Chinese military slogan about virtue and perseverance: “Maintain exemplary conduct, fight to win.”
Mr Xi had used the slogan during a political meeting with a military delegation in 2013shortly after he came to power, and the phrase has become popular ever since.
The joke spread widely on Chinese social media after critics, especially nationalist commentators, claimed the comedian had poked fun at what was a serious speech by Mr. Xi had been. Others said Mr. Li’s words were taken out of context.
On Wednesday night, the China Association of Performing Arts, a group of arts institutions, issued a boycott of Mr. Li, potentially banning the comic from performing in public venues. Beijing police also said they were investigating a man with the surname Li who had “seriously insulted the People’s Liberation Army during a performance,” according to their official Weibo account.
The severe punishment dealt a severe blow to China’s burgeoning stand-up comedy scene, highlighting the high-wire act comedians running in China, where the boundaries of expression are constantly tightening. Officials in China often expect films and artwork to have a positive moral impact on society, a view that dates back to the era of Mao Zedong and the role of art as a political tool. Beijing authorities, when announcing the sentence against Xiaoguo, urged artists and writers to have “correct creative thinking” and “provide the people with healthy mental food”.
In recent years, Mr Xi has stepped up scrutiny of speech that challenges the party’s narratives about politics and Chinese history.
Last year, Luo Changping, a businessman and former investigative journalist in China, was sentenced to seven months in prison after questioning China’s role in the Korean War. Mr Luo was charged under a new penal code that criminalizes defamation of political martyrs.
In addition to traditional Chinese forms of comedy, the Western variety of stand-up has recently become more popular in metropolitan cities such as Shanghai and Beijing. The art form rose to prominence, in part thanks to the success of Rock and Roast, a stand-up competition that attracted millions of fans during the pandemic, when many Chinese were housebound by lockdowns. The show, run by Xiaoguo, turned Mr. Li, who goes by the stage name ‘House’, into a star.
“There is an inherent tension between stand-up comedy as a genre and the heavily censored cultural realm in China,” said Sheng Zou, an assistant professor at Hong Kong Baptist University who specializes in popular culture in China.
Comedy thrives in places where comedians can satirize or comment on political or ideological tropes. But in China, Mr Zou said, “you have a very limited range of options for what kind of material you can use.”
Mr. Li was suspended indefinitely immediately after Xiaoguo’s performance, according to a statement from the comedy troupe on Monday. In a previous Weibo post, the comedian said he was “deeply embarrassed and sorry,” calling his comparison “deeply inappropriate.”
Mr. Li and Xiaoguo were not immediately available for comment.
Reactions to the fine were mixed on Chinese social media, with some commentators saying it was too harsh. A common comment pointed out that a company that provided false PCR test results was fined no more than $11,000.
But a strong chorus of support for punishing Mr. Li made it clear that his words had offended a much broader cohort than the Chinese civil service.
“What deserves our attention about this incident is that it not only angered the censors, but also upset many patriotic people,” said Mr. Would. “Cases like this fine are where the general public and state-sponsored forms of nationalism meet.”
