MCLC: Cui Jian performance in doubt

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: pjmooney <pjmooney at me.com>
Subject: Cui Jian performance in doubt
******************************************************

Source: Sinosphere, NYT (1/13/14):
http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/15/spring-gala-performance-by-c
hinese-rock-icon-in-doubt/

Spring Gala Performance by Chinese Rock Icon in Doubt
By LUO TIAN 

An iconic Chinese rocker whose music is closely associated with the 1989
pro-democracy movement is unlikely to appear on this year’s Spring
Festival gala on Chinese state television because of censorship concerns,
his agent said.

The invitation extended to Cui Jian to perform on the China Central
Television variety show, a staple of the Chinese holiday and one of the
most watched programs in the world, had been seen as a breakthrough for
the man known as the “Godfather of Rock” in China. Despite his fame, Mr.
Cui has long been kept off state radio and television, mainly because of
the political connotations of his work.

“In the end Mr. Cui Jian can’t participate in this performance,” his
agent, You You, told The New York Times in an e-mail. Asked why, she
replied, “Because we cannot change the song lyrics.”

Ms. You declined to elaborate on the censorship process but held out the
possibility that Mr. Cui could perform if no cuts to his songs were
required. “We are still waiting for the results of the censorship,” she
said.

Mr. Cui is currently directing a film and declined an interview request.

News of the invitation to Mr. Cui earlier this month prompted questions
about whether he might play “Nothing to My Name,” the 1986 ballad that
became an anthem of student protesters in Tiananmen Square.

The CCTV New Year’s Gala is an hours-long annual special watched by
hundreds of millions of Chinese on the eve of the country’s most important
holiday. It is light entertainment, with comedy, music and dance
performances. The content is tightly scripted, sometimes with overt
political messages. In 2010, a singer from the Uighur ethnic minority
performed a song titled, “The Party’s Policies are Good,” and was
ridiculed online for the crude propaganda.

In recent years, public enthusiasm for the the show has declined,
particularly among younger viewers who favor the Internet rather than
state television for entertainment. A few regional broadcasters have also
created rival shows, and some ordinary Chinese have even staged
alternative holiday performances online.

The invitation to Mr. Cui was seen as a possible attempt to add some punch
to the CCTV special and attract viewers whose interest may have waned.

Mr. Cui, who faced close official scrutiny and unwritten restrictions on
large-scale performances in the 1990s, did not appear on a big stage
before a mass audience in mainland China for 15 years. But over the last
decade, cultural and security authorities have eased up on rock as popular
tastes have diversified and the market for music festivals has grown. Mr.
Cui, too, has become far less taboo for the censors, who have allowed him
to perform in stadium concerts and state media to interview him.

CCTV has flirted with adding Mr. Cui to its holiday lineup before. In
2012, he recorded for a performance for an online version of the gala, but
it was never shown.

The 1989 student movement and the bloody crackdown that ended it are among
the most sensitive subjects for China’s ruling Communist Party. The themes
of loneliness and alienation conveyed by Mr. Cui’s songs, including the
1987 hit “A Piece of Red Cloth,” which he performed in Tiananmen during
the demonstrations 
<https://soundcloud.com/sunxiaoxi/cuijian-on-the-tiananmen-square>,
resonated with the protesters, though he has said in interviews that they
were originally meant as love songs.

Little is known about the vetting and censorship of acts in the Spring
Festival gala. But in 2012, Zhao Benshan, an actor who had appeared in 21
previous consecutive New Year’s shows, declined to perform and later
described the censors as “unhappy” and “nervous.” In 2010, the Taiwanese
magician Liu Qian complained the censorship process was “truly
frightening.”