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 China's communist authorities
can censor anything they believe violates core
socialist values, and already have stringent
rules on content ranging from video games to
movies to music.
The latest moves reining in the entertainment
industry come in the wake of a series of
celebrity scandals involving tax evasion and
sexual assault.
Two government ministries, including the
National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA),
and an industry association published fresh
guidelines on Thursday,
The NRTA, a ministry level body, said it will
strengthen regulation of stars' salaries and
punish tax evaders. It also said it would weed
out any content in cultural programmes that it
deems to be unhealthy.
Last week, China's internet regulator said it
was taking action against what it described as a
"chaotic" celebrity fan culture.
The selection of actors and guests should be
carefully controlled, with political literacy
and moral conduct included as criteria, NRTA
said, adding that performers should be
encouraged to participate in public welfare
programmes and assume social responsibilities.
The notice further said that programmes
portraying "effeminate" behaviour and other
content deemed "warped" should be stopped, along
with shows built around scandals, ostentatious
wealth and "vulgar" internet celebrities.
Unhealthy fan culture should be deterred and
strict controls placed on programmes with voting
segments, and any that encourage fans to spend
money to vote should be forbidden, the notice
added.
After years of runaway growth in the world's
second largest economy, regulators have been to
trying to strengthen control over Chinese
society by tightening oversight over a broad
swathe of industries ranging from technology to
education. They have called for measures to be
taken to reduce gaping inequality.
CRITICISM OF 'EFFEMINATE' STARS
Separate notices also published on Thursday by
the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the
China Association of Performing Arts said that
performers, like livestreaming stars, should
undergo periodic training on professional ethics
while agencies should terminate contracts with
performers who "lack moral discipline."
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 Besides criticising the culture
of celebrity worship, authorities and state
media have criticised male stars who favour
heavy make-up and carefully styled hair and
project a feminine image, saying Chinese boys
should become more manly. Some
"effeminate" stars are immoral and can damage
adolescents' values, according to an opinion
piece in the state-run Guangming Daily on Aug.
27, written by a former official at a military
newspaper.
When such stars act as soldiers fighting in the
war against the Japanese - a popular setting for
Chinese movies and TV shows - they also make the
"righteous" and "heroic" characters appear
childish, said the piece.
One popular video-maker on Douyin, a short video
platform, had his account suspended in late
August after complaints that he was too
"effeminate".
Some comments on the social media site Weibo
were more critical of the new guidelines for
broadcasters.
"Actually aesthetics should be diverse," said
one, with over 20,000 likes. "Isn't this a kind
of discrimination?" said another highly rated
comment.
Chinese celebrities have attended
government-arranged courses to learn about
Communist Party history and have carried out
"self-criticism" in the past two months in
response to the crackdown.
At an event in Beijing in late August, movie
stars Zhou Dongyu and Du Jiang read aloud a
statement criticising stars who had "crossed the
bottom line," calling on entertainers to never
become "slaves of the market" and to be
responsible to society, according to a video in
local media.
Entertainers should "bravely scale artistic
heights under the leadership of the (Communist)
Party!" they said, to applause.
(Reporting by Gabriel Crossley, Brenda Goh and
Beijing newsroom; Editing by Christopher
Cushing, Michael Perry, Kim Coghill, Simon
Cameron-Moore and Mark Heinrich)
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