Karaoke Songs Could Breach National Security

Karaoke singers will have to be mindful of their song choices

 

Perhaps it was going to happen eventually, but the Chinese government has come down on karaoke songs, banning those that are perceived to "endanger national security".

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism will establish a blacklist of banned songs deemed to have "illegal content", such as endangering national security and unity, inciting ethnic hatred, or promoting cults, gambling and vice.

Venues need to delete songs with "illegal content"

This is not new -- apparently China regularly removes songs deemed to be "politically incorrect" from domestic music streaming services, but now karaoke fans can't belt them out in the privacy of their own party rooms.

In its announcement published on Tuesday, the ministry did not explain how a song could land in the blacklist or reveal which songs endangered national security.

The national security law implemented in Hong Kong last June effectively criminalized public performances of songs sung during the anti-government protests in 2019.

That same year, Chinese music streaming sites also removed unofficial protest anthems, such as Les Miserables' Do You Hear The People Sing, as well as some songs by Chinese rock musician Li Zhi that reference the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

The new regulations come into effect October 1, which means before then karaoke content providers must audit their catalogues of these blacklisted songs, adding the ministry may establish a central expert review group for songs.

Some songs by rocker Li Zhi may be blacklisted

"Since there are almost 50,000 karaoke and entertainment venues nationwide, law enforcement and supervision is particularly difficult," said an unnamed ministry source quoted by Xinhua news agency.

"The basic song library of karaoke venues' systems can have over 100,000 songs, and it can be difficult for venue operators to identify illegal tracks."

It's made even harder when there is no official list of banned songs and so karaoke operators will have to guess.

Chinese bureaucracy at its finest, and a way to suddenly create employment to enforce the banned songs...

What the Premier Didn't Mention

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang addressing the media today in a press conference

Ah, the National People's Congress is over for another year.

Premier Li Keqiang held a press conference, where he was supposedly open to answering all questions from the media -- provided they were screened first.

Foreign media had to submit questions in advance, and only the ones that were approved were allowed to be asked -- if they were chosen in the huge crowd.

Hundreds of journalists were in the room listening to Li

And domestic media are typically given pieces of paper with questions on them, usually softball ones to give the premier a chance to talk about things he wanted to discuss.

But what would stop someone from asking a hard-hitting question -- other than probably being banned from the NPC forever -- at least it would get the premier to actually address an issue that everyone wants to know.

And so from reading news reports of today's press conference, it sounds like a lot of issues were not addressed, making people wonder if the government cares about their welfare, or is actually tackling the country's socio-economic challenges.

Li did not bring how China is tackling air pollution

For example in the past three years, Li answered questions about the environment and what the government was doing to curb pollution, but this year the topic was not raised, even though air quality has been so bad this past year.

This year was also the first time issues about the property market were not addressed either, as prices rise far beyond the reach of ordinary people. Perhaps Li could not think of another way to spin the story...

While he answered questions about economic form and the need to streamline bureaucracy, the massive problem of how to further streamline state-owned enterprises was not mentioned. It's probably too explosive a powder keg to even begin to delve into...

No talk of China's growing presence in the South China Sea

When it came to foreign relations, he did not talk about China's relationship with Africa or Europe, and also its growing presence in the South China Sea. What is going on with that island that China seems to be making bigger and bigger...? And didn't Beijing have good relations with African countries? What happened there?

Human rights is not a topic that is often mentioned at these press conferences, but sometimes previous premiers have talked about it on occasion. Not this time, despite blatant human rights abuses against Uighurs and Tibetans...

It sounds like an extremely tightly controlled press conference, and perhaps even Li could not say much either, which is why he ended it at exactly the two-hour mark, including translations into English. So in the end it was probably one hour's worth of questions.

Thus wraps up another year, with China watchers having to further examine their tea leaves to try to figure out where the country is going.

Failing Our Next Generation

Hong Kong's education system seems to be about learning to pass exams

Since the beginning of the academic year, there have been 22 Hong Kong students who have committed suicide, including four in five days. One was an 11 year old. This compares to 23 suicides per year from 2010 to 2014.

The Hong Kong government is alarmed enough that Education Secretary Eddie Ng Hak-kim has announced a team of psychologists will work with schools to provide better counseling. However he did not clarify how many were in the team.

Currently almost every school has a social worker, but there are hardly enough psychologists to go around in the city, let alone for schools.

Eddie Ng pledged to find prevention against student suicides

Nevertheless, people were quick to blame the highly stressful school system, where the constant focus on grades since early age makes it difficult not only on the students, but the parents as well.

There is also the scheduling of children's days from morning to evening, seven days a week so that they have no downtime or even a few hours to play with friends. Does a three-year-old really need a CV as thick as a magazine?

Many believe the education system really needs to be completely revamped, with a focus more on actual learning than learning how to pass exams. Currently students seem to just go through the motions and don't find school fun at all.

When kids aren't interested in learning then how will the city be able to innovate at all? Curiosity is what inspires people to find out new ways of doing things, or new things, period.

But education chief Ng didn't mention anything about examining the pitfalls of the current education system and instead said it would set up a committee to look into the problem and recommend preventative solutions within six months.

What a pathetic bureaucratic response.

Children don't have enough time to play and decompress

How about reaching out to the shocked and bereaved parents, fellow students and teachers, asking them if they saw any signs of trouble, and find out what what support they need?

There are also concerns that parents aren't spending enough time with their children, as both mother and father work these days to pay the rent/mortgage/school fees/put food on the table, etc.

The other extreme of parents sheltering their children is not good either, as young people are less able to cope with setbacks and failure, as encountering these kinds of incidents can be good for character building.

Another factor is that children today are more antisocial and would rather text than talk face-to-face with friends and adults.

"This generation grew up with the internet. Although they are more connected, they also tend to look only at things they like. They might not understand complicated or different views on an issue. For anyone who sees things not fitting their taste, they could simply 'unfriend' them," says Dr Lee Sing, a professor of psychiatry at Chinese University.

This results in young people seriously lacking in interpersonal skills and the inability to cope with stress.

What needs to be done is to discuss the issue so that people -- not just young ones -- will be encouraged to speak up. With the fast-paced world we are living in, people do not have time to reflect on their lives or think about what they want to.

With 22 suicides already this academic year, it's time to stop and ask what is going on and figure out how we have failed the next generation.

Corrupt Officials Capitalize on Bureaucratic Loopholes

China's bureaucracy makes it easy for corrupt officials, difficult for citizens

Late last month Chinese Premier Li Keqiang blasted officials for the hoops ordinary citizens have to go through to get things done, such as having to prove one's mother really was his mother in order to get an overseas travel permit, or being recommended for a model worker award, but then needing to submit a form with stamps from eight different government agencies.

He might also be fuming when it was discovered a fugitive official wanted on corruption charges was able to flee China to New Zealand even though his passport was confiscated.

The fugitive, only identified as "Ge", fled the mainland in January 2008 after graft busters disciplined an official he apparently bribed.

"I was bewildered. We had seized his passport so how could he leave the country?" Gao Guangshan, from the Huainan procuratorate said. "It was only after I checked with the Qingdao public security [bureau] that I found out that he had written [to the bureau] claiming that his passport had been lost and was issued a new one."

Ge's passport had been seized in Huainan in Anhui province, but then he was able to receive a new one in Qingdao. From there he went to Shanghai wit his wife to leave the country.

The investigation into Ge was stopped in 2010, but was reopened last year when Beijing launched its Fox Hunt operation to track down fugitive officials.

When Ge's wife returned in China for a visit, investigators advised her to persuade Ge to turn himself in, which he did in February.

Now there's an effort to close up this loophole by authorities by cracking down on officials who travel on private passports.

Note to corrupt officials abroad -- Once you flee China, don't even think of ever going back. If Ge's wife hadn't returned, Ge would probably still be living it up in New Zealand...