Chinese authorities have arrested a woman for insulting the People’s Liberation Army, after she defended a comedian’s joke about a Xi Jinping military slogan that caused a national outcry.
The 34-year-old woman, identified by her last name Shi, was detained on Tuesday evening for posting inappropriate remarks about the military, police in the northeastern city of Dalian said in a statement Wednesday. The dignity of Chinese soldiers must be respected, added the statement posted to China’s Twitter-like Weibo.
Shi had questioned the suspension of comedian Li Haoshi, known as House, for likening the behavior of two wild dogs to the work ethic described by a military slogan Xi had once used at a PLA gathering.
“Why should HOUSE be banned? Aren’t all soldier brothers just dog brothers?” Shi wrote on Weibo, according to the state-run Global Times newspaper. Bloomberg News could not verify the post, which appeared to have been removed.
China enacted a law in 2021 criminalizing insults against the military, prompting authorities to take a harder line on criticism of the PLA. Police in Beijing announced on Wednesday they were probing Li for “seriously insulting the PLA,” while authorities handed his employer, Shanghai Xiaoguo Culture Media Co., a 13.4 million yuan ($1.9 million) fine.
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Some shares related to China’s media industry continued a downward trend Thursday.
The backlash appeared to have a chilling effect on China’s live performance industry on Thursday. At least two comedy club operators — Danliren Comedy and C+ Talkshow Club — cancelled some of their upcoming performances, according to the National Business Daily and a statement on the latter company’s WeChat account.
Japanese band Kissaquo abruptly pulled a show in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou on Wednesday night. A statement on the band’s official Weibo account said the cancellation was ordered by government agencies out of “force majeure.” Kissaquo did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism only resumed approvals of commercial performances involving foreign artists on March 20, in a bid to facilitate recovery of the show business industry to “better serve our country’s economic and social development.”
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The fallout from House’s performance was among the top trending items on Weibo on Thursday morning, garnering more than 1 million posts as the issue polarized users. While many commentators voiced support for the police action, others cautioned against over-interpreting entertainment content.
The scandal also took another casualty. A Weibo user who earlier wrote a long post criticizing Li’s performance, said on Wednesday night he’d been doxxed, with his personal details posted on a foreign website.
“Who stands on my side,” he asked. “Who stands against me?”
--With assistance from Xiao Zibang.
