China bans “hip-hop culture, sub-culture and dispirited culture” from television

China’s State Administration Of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, And Television (SAPPRFT) has reportedly banned hip-hop culture from television.

The country’s top media regulator — the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People’s Republic of China (SAPPRFT) — now “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),” Sina, a Chinese news outlet, reports.

The order even came with rules that seemed straight out of ‘1984‘.

Gao Changli, director of the administration’s publicity department, outlined four “Don’t” rules on Friday:
-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

It’s not just for show either, as it’s actually being enforced and has affected hip-hop artists already.

The ban follows the removal of the prominent rapper GAI from Hunan TV’s Singer, a hit competition show. Clips of GAI, whose real name is Zhou Yan, were also removed from China Hunan TV’s official Youtube Channel, but no official explanation has been given.

Rapper Mao Yanqi, aka VaVa, was cut from the variety show Happy Camp, according to Tecent News. Music by Triple H, an influential underground rapper, has also been removed from major streaming sites. And a contestant on the show Super Brian, which is not hip-hop related, even had his hip-hop style necklace blurred out.

This is comically heavy handed, obviously.

That said, if it saves Kris, Luhan, and Jackson (and Lay) from dropping rap singles, it’s honestly doing them a favor.