BEIJING — China told broadcasters on Thursday to shun artists with “incorrect political positions” and “effeminate” styles, and said a patriotic atmosphere needed to be cultivated, as part of a wider crackdown on its booming entertainment industry.
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.
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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 programs 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 programs and assume social responsibilities.
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The notice further said that programs portraying “effeminate” behavior 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 programs 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.
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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.”
Besides criticizing the culture of celebrity worship, authorities and state media have criticized male stars who favor 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.
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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 esthetics 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 criticizing 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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OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
