China to “review” online song lyrics
China to “review” online song lyrics
Given the control that the Chinese authorities try to maintain over other arts, it’s hardly surprising online song lyrics are now being targetted. According to a report on China’s Global Times, song lyrics found to be vulgar, violent, or in otherwise poor taste now face removal from Chinese Web sites. The Chinese Ministry of Culture has even announced an “innovative” fast-track system to review material.
Foreign music providers must translate the lyrics of each song into Chinese, and file related images and an introduction with the government. The goal, the ministry said, is to remove vulgar music from the Internet including those that are in poor tastes and are illegal. A local professor has even said it would protect students from negative influences. Zhang Yiwu, a professor at Peking University, said the move could protect students and “ward off the negative influences of foreign pop culture.”
It’s interesting that we worry about copyright infringement whereas they worry about foreign influences.
2026: Is China still reviewing song lyrics?
I first reported on this in 2009. A lot has changed since then, but has China lightened its monitoriing of song lyrics? The anwer is:: no.
A report from the TaipeiTimes, details how far China is willing to go. They give the case of Malaysian singer Fish Leong’s (???) 2005 song Unfortunately Not You (?????). Although the song has zero political meaning or intention, Internet users had started replacing characters in the song’s title — xi (?), meaning “unfortunately,” and ni (?), meaning “you” — with homophones Xi (?), the surname of Chinese President Xi Jinping (???), and ni (?), the first character in the Mandarin transliteration of Nicolas (????) – a roundabout refeence to Nicolas Maduro.
“The altered phrase — “But Xi is not Nicolas” (?????) — could be interpreted, in the context of the original lyrics, as expressing regret that Xi, rather than Maduro, had not been captured.” (read the full article here).
It’s also worth noting that concert set lists are also regularly checked before shows.