China to ban karaoke songs that endanger territorial integrity

Interim regulations coming into effect from October 1 says the government will create a ‘blacklist’ for karaoke songs and will ban them.

Singing certain songs at a karaoke bar could endanger national unity, territorial integrity and will be banned, the Chinese government has said.

A woman holds a national flag while using a smartphone to film herself at Tiananmen Square to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Chinese Communist Party in Beijing in July. (AP)

Interim regulations coming into effect from October 1 says the government will create a “blacklist” for karaoke songs and will ban them.

“China will create a blacklist for karaoke songs, banning those that contain harmful content at karaoke venues across the country,” the Chinese culture and tourism ministry announced on Tuesday.

The banned song list will also include songs that are against the country’s religious policies and spread thoughts about cults and superstitions.

“On the list are songs containing content that endangers national unity, sovereignty, or territorial integrity; violates China’s religious policies and spreads cults and superstitions; and advocates obscenity, gambling, violence and drug-related crimes or instigating crimes,” according to a set of interim regulations issued by the ministry.

The regulations will take effect on October 1, 2021. The banned songs’ list is yet to be released.

Officially, China has nearly 50,000 entertainment venues such as karaoke bars, which have a basic music library of over 100,000 songs, the Xinhua report said.

The first time the ministry had taken a similar step was in 2015 when it had banned 120 songs, which “trumpet obscenity, violence, crime or harm social morality”.

A report by the Global Times then said: “With titles such as ‘Beijing Hooligans’, ‘Don’t Want to Go to School’ and ‘Suicide Diary’, the banned songs were described as having severely problematic content which violate an online cultural management regulation”.

Karaoke, also known as KTV in China, was invented in Japan in the 1970s and introduced to China in the late 1980s, the Xinhua report added.

It is popular across age groups and is often considered a favoured mode of socialising among friends and families.

In early 2018, the Chinese government had also cracked down on the country’s emerging hip hop music scene, asking broadcasters not to air artistes with tattoos, singing hip hop music and others who were in conflict with the CPC’s values.

Given the party’s disapproval, Chinese rappers, instead, have turned patriotic.

Like the 100 rappers who recently collaborated for the patriotic rap song “100%” to mark the CPC’s 100th birthday on July 1.