The government says that art and culture should be made in the service of the people, and by people they meant the Chinese government. The government can use celebrities to promote messages that are aligned with the Chinese government, for example, anti-Hong Kong videos. And if celebrities rebel, they can get wiped from the face of the internet (as shown in the next video). As you can see, cancel culture in China is much more intense than cancel culture in America. The main difference between the two : the people cancel American celebrities, but the government cancel Chinese celebrities.
The Chinese government seems to have an extreme pop-culture crackdown. With the power to completely wipe actors (or even other Chinese celebrities) completely off of Chinese media. An example provided in the video is the actress Zhao Wei, a prominent actress with outside real estate influence. All of a sudden, fans noticed that her shows/movies, and even her social media account on Weibo (a Chinese blog site), is gone. On top of that, the government did not offer any reasoning as to why they deleted her media. The government says that pop-culture should reflect the government. However, it’s quite vague about what the government views and principles are.
This video shows the power of cancel culture on U.S brands, specifically related to the boycotting of H&M, Nike, and Adidas. There was an accusation about forced labor over Xinjiang Cotton, which caused Chinese citizens to question their purchase of these brands. Xinjiang cotton makes up the high majority of cotton in China, and the people took offense to it. There is even an example of a young man who buys and sells sneakers made by Nike and Adidas, where he returns his purchases. This was due to an internal struggle between cultural and business beliefs, but he chose his cultural beliefs at the end of the day. H&M was also hit relatively hard to the point that they were taken down from e-commerce sites and faced significant backlash. Another example shown in the video that surprised me was the backlash the NBA got from a post they made, which caused the country also to boycott it in China. These examples show the power that cancel culture has to take down even the biggest names in the world.
Cancel culture between countries is hazardous, especially when the two most significant powers in the world have different agendas. China has a lot of power and has been meeting with the U.S. multiple times about the pollution problem, specifically China’s significant contribution to the issue. When the U.S. and China meet about pollution, China has been using its power not to comply so much. They know that they have a trump card, which is that we rely heavily on them, and at any moment, if the U.S. does something they do not like, they can cancel them and boycott them, which will cause chaos for all things U.S. in China. Essentially, China expects the U.S. to concede and give in to their demands because they see them as a declining nation, and the U.S. confronting them can cause many backlashes. They have been using woke media quotes to trash-talk America, leading Chinese people to view the U.S. negatively and unfavorably. This abuse of power and illustration of cancel culture depicts how with the current U.S. leaders, China sees an opportunity to soar above the American Nation.
Another example of a cancelled Chinese celebrity. The cause was because pictures were released of Zhang Zhehan visiting a controversial temple in Japan. This immediately caused a lot of backlash from the people and the government, calling it a betrayal of loyalty to China. The result? Being blacklisted from future shows/movies, and having his name removed from credits of his previous works. The focus on pop-culture from the government is a recent development. They say that works of art should serve a higher purpose and reflect the values of modern china.
In this video, we see people’s backlash against a young Chinese celebrity getting a job in the government. As the narrator described, a government job comes with prestige, housing subsidy, and a guaranteed pay check (maybe for life). In addition, there was no mention about the celebrity even taking the exam to become a candidate for the role and with the foreshadowing of a slower economy, the people were outraged by this. With incidents like this, Chinese celebrities have to be aware of their public status not only with the people but the government. Because, if he did not accept the job, he will anger the government but please the people. But, as seen in the video, if he pleases the government, he can anger the people.
Cancel culture is a powerful weapon country can use to silence people and control the media. In this video, in the first few minutes, we see Song Dongye’s story of cancelation and how it affected his life and ability to speak out. The famous artist was canceled for drug use and blocked from Weibo. The video depicts China’s power to influence media easily. Song could not even write a response to the claims against him because the media would remove his comments. This level of cancellation has been seen with many artists. It shows how no one can get away from cancellation and that even the most famous individuals fall victim to China’s extreme cancelation tactics.
This video states that the Chinese Communist Party(CCP) is using the stop Asian hate movement to its own benefit. For the most part, news in America is one-sided and negative, and the titles are manipulated. According to the video, the CCP uses the attacks to hide their tracks. In a way, the video portrays the idea that China wants to censor people from around the world who criticize the CCP and imply that they hate them. China wants people to think that criticism of the Chinese Government is connected to killing Asian people. This claim is a far stretch, but according to the video, attempts have been made to censor those that fight against the CCP. One example is a man at a protest who had a sign about holding the CCP liable for stopping Asian hate, and authorities blocked his sign and message. Overall this form of cancel culture on both people who speak out on the CCP and the manipulation of protest movements brings up the question of the power that China has to influence others and block messages.
Chinese cancel culture is not just for the people inside of China; it also occurs to those outside. Specifically, celebrities may not have the best connections to the country and have even been banned. This video covers multiple celebrities who have been canceled from going to China for various reasons. I found the video shocking because wearing a particular outfit was enough for a celebrity to get banned. This high level of restrictions and authority that China has is alarming. Another example was someone canceled for releasing a movie that China found inappropriate. This video depicts how much power China truly has over its country and how anything someone does that may be deemed slightly anti-China can have significant consequences.