China Launches War on ‘Harmful’ Karaoke Songs

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced Tuesday that it has begun the process of compiling a “blacklist” of songs that “endanger national unity” that the Communist Party will ban from karaoke machines and bars.

The Communist Party has published similar lists of banned songs with some regularity in the past ten years, asserting that tightly controlling what music Chinese citizens can listen to and sing along with is a core national security concern. State media reports on the Culture Ministry’s upcoming move, reportedly to be implemented in October, noted the regime has already banned many of the songs expected to appear on the “blacklist” but Party officials have failed to properly eradicate them.

“On the list are songs containing content that endangers national unity, sovereignty or territorial integrity; violates China’s religious policies and spreads cults and superstitions;” the state news agency Xinhua listed, “and advocates obscenity, gambling, violence and drug-related crimes or instigating crimes.”

The Global Times, a government-run propaganda newspaper, added the detail that China will call in a team of “experts” to decide which songs make it on the “blacklist.” It also noted that Beijing has expressed disgust with the sheer number of songs typically available for performance at karaoke bars and self-service karaoke machines.

“The ministry said China has around 100,000 songs in the basic music library accessible to nearly 50,000 singing and entertaining venues, which makes it hard for the government to supervise,” the newspaper observed. The culture ministry reportedly admitted that it had largely failed to enforce a prior blacklist, making an updated list and enforcement mechanism necessary.

China’s latest music crackdown prior to this week’s announcement occurred in 2015. At the time, the Ministry of Culture published a blacklist of 120 songs banned not just from karaoke venues, but all public spaces, because of their alleged potential to “harm social morality.” The ministry vowed “severe punishment” to anyone listening to or broadcasting the songs. The list of songs included several appearing to refer to suicide, drug use, or general illicit behavior, like the tune “Don’t Want to Go to School.” Another song on the list was titled “I Love Taiwanese Girls” and contained the lyric “I don’t like Chinese women.” The 120 songs were part of a larger removal of 2.2 million songs from online music purchasing outlets; the government took away the option of buying the songs but most did not fall within the definitive “blacklist.”

In the years following the publication of the first blacklist, the Communist Party began facing increased challenges from a growing underground hip-hop community. The regime spent years publishing pro-communist rap songs featuring dictator Xi Jinping and various technical Marxist philosophical principles but they largely failed to achieve any mainstream popularity. In contrast, the reality program The Rap of China, featuring up-and-coming Chinese rappers competing for a record deal, became a national sensation in 2017, in part because of the authentic and apolitical nature of the content of the music. The Communist Party responded to the program by banning most rap music from broadcast television (The Rap of China streams on the online network iQiyi) and punishing entertainment distributors for the spread of “immoral” content.

Karaoke venues are extremely popular in China with all generations. In the past, Chinese state media proudly boasted of the growing popularity of the entertainment genre — in which participants can perform songs with instrumental background tracks — with elderly Chinese people, given its wholesome nature and minimal physical exertion. In 2017, China’s Culture & Entertainment Industry Association launched a campaign called “Sunshine Entertainment, Sunset Glow” to encourage seniors to participate in karaoke and other community activities.

“More than 200 entertainment firms in 23 provincial regions joined the program,” Xinhua reported at the time, “which offers free or discounted recreational activities such as daytime karaoke to people over 50, benefiting millions of seniors. The program has made karaoke affordable for the elderly.”

The program resulted in increased business for karaoke bars and modified early hours for older patrons.

The promotion of karaoke among the elderly also appeared to be a response to the growing disillusion with communism among people of the “millennial” generation in the country. Chinese millennials have largely rejected communist propaganda and many have abandoned hopes of marrying, finding fulfilling careers, or having children. In recent months, Chinese propaganda outlets have recalibrated their approach away from the promotion of the ideology among millennials, instead targeting the younger “Gen Z” with “red tourism” campaigns to historic communist sites and increased indoctrination materials in schools.

While China is attempting to increase regulation of karaoke content within its borders, neighboring countries have complained that karaoke machine manufacturers have sent Chinese machines abroad filled with communist propaganda music. In Taiwan, a lawmaker called for an official investigation in January into the communist karaoke machines, protesting that “Chinese patriotic songs” — extremely unpopular in Taiwan due to Beijing’s false claim to control the country — appeared pre-programmed into karaoke machines sold on the island. Video karaoke machines also reportedly came with pre-programmed footage of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and other propaganda. Lawmakers also expressed concern with copyright violations against Taiwanese artists whose music was featured without consent in the machines.