「中英」中国加强文化控制，多地脱口秀、音乐演出被取消

脱口秀公司笑果文化传媒在北京的演出场地，该公司一名表演者被指控在笑话中侮辱军人后，笑果被政府罚款1335万元人民币。 Tingshu Wang/Reuters
The cancellations rippled across the country: A Japanese choral band touring China, stand-up comedy shows in several cities, jazz shows in Beijing. In the span of a few days, the performances were among more than a dozen that were abruptly called off — some just minutes before they were supposed to begin — with virtually no explanation.
全国各地都出现了演出取消的情况：一个日本僧侣歌手取消了中国巡演，几座城市暂停了脱口秀，北京的酒吧取消了爵士乐。几天的时间里，十几场演出突然被取消，有些是在原定开演时间的几分钟前，而且几乎没有任何解释。
Just before the performances were scrapped, the authorities in Beijing had fined a Chinese comedy studio around $2 million, after one of its stand-up performers was accused of insulting the Chinese military in a joke; the police in northern China also detained a woman who had defended the comedian online.
这些演出被取消之前，北京有关方面对一家中国喜剧工作室处以1335万人民币的罚款，因为政府指责该工作室的一名脱口秀演员在笑话中侮辱军人；在北方的一座城市，警方还拘留了一名在网上为这名喜剧演员辩护的女子。
Those penalties, and the sudden spate of cancellations that followed, point to the growing scrutiny of China’s already heavily censored creative landscape. China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, has made arts and culture a central arena for ideological crackdowns, demanding that artists align their creative ambitions with Chinese Communist Party goals and promote a nationalist vision of Chinese identity. Performers must submit scripts or set lists for vetting, and publications are closely monitored.
这些惩罚以及随之而来的一连串突然取消表明，中国已经受到严格审查的创意领域正在面临越来越严的审查。中国最高领导人习近平已将艺术和文化作为意识形态斗争的主要打击目标，要求艺术家把自己的创作抱负与中国共产党的目标结合起来，推动有利于中国人身份认同的民族主义愿景。表演者必须将剧本或节目单事先提交审查者，各类出版物也受到密切监管。
On Tuesday, Mr. Xi sent a letter to the National Art Museum of China for its 60th anniversary, reminding staff to “adhere to the correct political orientation.”
习近平在周二致信中国美术馆庆祝建馆60周年时提醒工作人员“坚持正确政治方向”。
Mr. Xi’s emphasis on the arts is also part of a broader preoccupation with national security and eliminating supposedly malign foreign influence. The authorities in recent weeks have raided the corporate offices of several Western consulting or advisory companies based in China, and broadened the range of behaviors covered under counterespionage laws.
习近平对艺术的强调是他更广泛地关注国家安全、致力于消除所谓的外国恶劣影响努力的一部分。当局已在最近几周突击搜查了几家西方咨询或顾问公司在中国的办事处，并扩大了反间谍法的适用范围。中国最高领导人习近平周二致信中国美术馆时提醒馆内工作人员“坚持正确政治方向”。 Pool photo by Florence Lo
Many of the canceled events were supposed to feature foreign performers or speakers.
许多被取消的演出据说都有外国表演者或说唱者参加。
It was only to be expected that Beijing would also look to the cultural realm, as its deteriorating relationship with the West has made it more fixated on maintaining its grip on power at home, said Zhang Ping, a former journalist and political commentator in China who now lives in Germany.
随着中国与西方的关系不断恶化，政府更异常依赖与维持国内权力有关的控制，把目光投向文化领域是意料之中的事，现居德国、曾在中国担任记者和政治评论员的张平说。
“One way to respond to anxiety about power is to increase control,” said Mr. Zhang, who writes under the pen name Chang Ping. “Dictatorships have always sought to control people’s entertainment, speech, laughter and tears.”
“权力焦虑的一种反应是加强控制，”张平（笔名“长平”）说。“独裁政权总是寻求控制人民的娱乐、言论和喜怒哀乐。”
While the party has long regulated the arts — one target of the Cultural Revolution was creative work deemed insufficiently “revolutionary” — the intensity has increased sharply under Mr. Xi. In 2021, a state-backed performing arts association published a list of morality guidelines for artists, which included prescriptions for patriotism. The same year, the government banned “sissy men” from appearing on television, accusing them of weakening the nation.
虽然中共长期以来一直对艺术进行控制——被认为不够“革命”曾是创造性作品在文化大革命中受批判的原因——但这种控制的强度已在习近平领导下大增。2021年，有政府背景的中国演出行业协会发布了演艺人员从业规范，其中包括“热爱祖国，拥护党的路线方针政策”的要求。同年，政府禁止了“娘炮”上电视，指责他们削弱了国家。中国淄博的一家书店。当局对文学作品管控严格。 Qilai Shen for The New York Times
Officials have also taken notice of stand-up comedy, which has gained popularity in recent years and offered a rare medium for limited barbs about life in contemporary China. The government fined a comedian for making jokes about last year’s coronavirus lockdown in Shanghai. People’s Daily, the Communist Party mouthpiece, published a commentary in November that said jokes had to be “moderate” and noted that stand-up as an art form was a foreign import; the Chinese name for stand-up, “tuo kou xiu,” is itself a transliteration from “talk show.”
官员们也已开始关注脱口秀，这种表演为有限度地讽刺中国当代生活提供了罕见的平台，近年来已越来越受欢迎。政府曾对一名脱口秀演员处以罚款，因为他拿上海去年的新冠封城开玩笑。中共喉舌《人民日报》去年11月发表的一篇评论文章说，讲笑话要有“适度”，并指出脱口秀作为一种艺术形式是舶来品；脱口秀这个名称本身就是“Talk Show”的音译。
The recent crackdown began after an anonymous social media user complained about a set that a popular stand-up comedian, Li Haoshi, performed in Beijing on May 13. Mr. Li, who uses the stage name House, had said that watching his two adopted stray dogs chase a squirrel reminded him of a Chinese military slogan: “Maintain exemplary conduct, fight to win.” The user suggested that Mr. Li had slanderously compared soldiers to wild dogs.
最近的打击行动始于社交媒体上的一个匿名用户对当红脱口秀演员李昊石今年5月13日在北京一场演出的抱怨。李昊石（艺名House）说，看着他收养的两条流浪狗追松鼠，让他想起了解放军“作风优良，能打胜仗”的口号。该用户暗示，李昊石将解放军比作野狗是侮辱。
Outrage grew among nationalist social media users, and the authorities quickly piled on. In addition to fining Xiaoguo Culture Media, the firm that manages Mr. Li, the authorities — who said the joke had a “vile societal impact” — indefinitely suspended the company’s performances in Beijing and Shanghai. Xiaoguo fired Mr. Li, and the Beijing police said they were investigating him.
社交媒体上的民族主义用户为此愤怒情绪高涨，当局立即对此事大加挞伐。除了对李昊石的经纪公司笑果文化传媒处以罚款外，还无限期地暂停了该公司在北京和上海的演出，当局称李昊石的笑话造成了“恶劣社会影响”。笑果文化已将他解雇，北京警方表示正在对其进行立案调查。
Within hours of the penalty being announced on Wednesday, organizers of stand-up shows in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and eastern Shandong Province canceled their performances. A few days later, Chinese social media platforms suspended the accounts of Uncle Roger, a Britain-based Malaysian comic whose real name is Nigel Ng; Mr. Ng had posted a video poking fun at the Chinese government on Twitter (which is banned in mainland China).
在上周三宣布处罚后的几小时里，上海、北京、深圳，以及山东省组织脱口秀表演的机构都取消了演出。几天后，中国社交媒体平台暂停了“罗杰叔叔”的账号，“罗杰叔叔”本名黄瑾瑜(Nigel Ng)，是旅居英国的马来西亚喜剧演员，他曾在（被中国大陆禁止的）Twitter上发过一段取笑中国政府的视频。
But the apparent fallout was not limited to comedy. Scheduled musical performances began disappearing, too, including a stop in southern China by a Shanghai rock band that includes foreign members, a Beijing folk music festival and several jazz performances, and a Canadian rapper’s show in the southern city of Changsha.
但这件事的影响看来不只限于脱口秀表演。原定的音乐表演也开始消失，包括一支有外国成员的上海摇滚乐队在中国南方的演出、北京的一个民间音乐节和几场爵士乐表演，以及一名加拿大说唱歌手在南方城市长沙的演出。
The frontman of a Buddhist-influenced Japanese chorus group, Kissaquo, said last Wednesday that his concert that night in the southern city of Guangzhou had been canceled. Hours later, the frontman, Kanho Yakushiji, said a performance in Hangzhou, in eastern China, had been canceled, too. And the next day, he announced that Beijing and Shanghai shows had also been called off.
受佛教影响的日本乐队“喫茶去”的主唱上周三说，他定于当晚在南方城市广州举行的音乐会已被取消。几小时后，名为药师寺宽邦的主唱说，在中国东部城市杭州的一场演出也被取消。他在次日宣布，北京和上海的演出也被取消。
“I was writing a set list, but I stopped in the middle,” Mr. Yakushiji, whose management company did not respond to a request for comment, wrote on his Facebook page. “I still don’t understand what the meaning of all this is. I have nothing but regrets.”
“我正在列节目单，但写了一半就停下来了，”药师司宽邦在他的Facebook页面上写道，他的经纪公司没有回复记者的置评请求。“我仍不明白这个事件有什么意义？我现在只感到遗憾。”
Organizers’ announcements for nearly all of the canceled events cited “force majeure,” a term that means circumstances beyond one’s control — and, in China, has often been used as shorthand for government pressure.
几乎所有取消活动的组织者在公告中都用了“不可抗力”的说法，意思是组织者无法控制的情况，在中国，这个词经常是政府压力的简略表达方式。
Stand-up show organizers did not return requests for comment. Several organizers of canceled musical performances denied that they had been told not to feature foreigners. An employee at a Nanjing music venue that canceled a tribute to the Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto said not enough tickets had been sold.
脱口秀组织者没有回复记者的置评请求。一些被取消的音乐会的组织者否认他们被要求不许外国表演者参加。南京文化艺术中心已取消了原定举行的坂本龙一经典作品音乐会，该中心的一名员工说，取消的原因是票房不好。组织者以“不可抗力”为由，临时取消了许多音乐演出。图为一个中国摇滚乐队去年在秦皇岛举行的一场演出。 Wu Hao/EPA, via Shutterstock
Some of the foreign musicians whose shows were canceled have since been able to perform in other cities or at other venues.
一些被取消了演出的外国音乐家后来能在其他城市或场所演出。
But a foreign musician in Beijing, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, said his band was scheduled to play at a bar on Sunday and was told by the venue several days before that the gig was canceled because featuring foreigners would bring trouble.
但北京的一名外国乐手说，他的乐队原定周日在一家酒吧演出，但在演出的几天前，酒吧告诉他演出已被取消，因为有外国人参加表演会惹麻烦。这名乐手因害怕遭报复，要求不具名。
Lynette Ong, a professor of Chinese politics at the University of Toronto, said it was unlikely that the central government had issued direct instructions to spur the recent cultural crackdowns. Local governments or venue owners, conscious of how the political environment had changed, were likely being especially cautious, she said.
多伦多大学研究中国政治的教授王惠玲(Lynette Ong)说，不太可能是中央政府直接下达的指令引发了最近这轮文化打击。她说，这可能是意识到政治环境发生了变化的地方政府或场地拥有者特别谨慎导致的。
“In Xi’s China, people are so scared and fearful that they become extremely risk-averse,” she said. “Overall, it’s a very paranoid party.”
“在习近平的中国，人们非常害怕和恐惧，以至于他们变得极度不愿冒险，”她说。“总的来说，中共是一个非常多疑的党。”
In the past, when nationalism has gone to extremes, or local officials overzealously enforced the rules, the central government would eventually step in to cool down the rhetoric, in part to preserve economic or diplomatic relationships. But Professor Ong said Beijing’s current emphasis on security above all would give it no reason to intervene here.
过去，当民族主义走向极端，或地方官员过于热心地执行规则时，中央政府最终会介入让调子降温，这部分是为了维护经济或外交关系。但王惠玲说，中国政府目前对国家安全的强调高于一切，因此没有理由对这件事进行干预。
“If people don’t watch comedy, there’s no loss for the party,” she said.
“人们不看脱口秀的话，对党来说没有损失，”她说。