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'Tasteless, Vulgar, And Obscene': China Bans Hip-Hop Culture From National Television
'Tasteless, Vulgar, And Obscene': China Bans Hip-Hop Culture From National Television
Chinese rapper GAI, one of several rappers who has been affected by the ban. Source: QIY

'Tasteless, Vulgar, And Obscene': China Bans Hip-Hop Culture From National Television

'Tasteless, Vulgar, And Obscene': China Bans Hip-Hop Culture From National Television Chinese rapper GAI, one of several rappers who has been affected by the ban. Source: QIY

China has banned hip-hop culture and actors with tattoos from appearing on television.

READ: Chinese Museum Removes Photo Exhibit Comparing Black People To Animals

The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People's Republic of China (SAPPRFT) "specifically requires that programs should not feature actors with tattoos [or depict] hip hop culture, sub-culture (non-mainstream culture) and dispirited culture (decadent culture)," according to a report from Time.

Along with the requirement Gao Changli, director of the administration's publicity department, also outlined four "Don't" rules that programs must follow now:

Absolutely do not use actors whose heart and morality are not aligned with the party and whose morality is not noble.

Absolutely do not use actors who are tasteless, vulgar and obscene.

Absolutely do not use actors whose ideological level is low and have no class.

Absolutely do not use actors with stains, scandals and problematic moral integrity.

The ban comes following the removal of rapper GAI from Hunan TV's Singer, a hit competition show. GAI, whose real name is Zhou Yan, has been removed from clips from China Hunan TV's official Youtube Channel. The censorship has had other effects as well. Triple H, an influential underground rapper, has been removed from major streaming sites, while a contestant on the show Super Brian, which is not hip-hop related, had his hip-hop style necklace blurred out.

As Reuters notes, this is not the first time censorship in China has primarily been directed at hip-hop culture and music. In 2015, China's culture ministry banned 120 songs - mostly rap - for "promoting obscenity, violence, crime or threatening public morality."

Source: Time