The Chinese broadcast regulator has banned “effeminate sissies” and “girly men” from being portrayed on TV.
Broadcasters must “resolutely put an end to sissy men and other abnormal aesthetics,” the country’s national TV regulator has said, using a derogatory slang term for effeminate men – “niang pao,” which directly translates to “girlie guns.”
The Chinese Communist government recently raised concerns that many Chinese pop stars who the country’s youth idolise, and who resemble effeminate South Korean “K-Pop” artists, are having a damaging effect on the masculinity of China’s young men.
As a result, the broadcasting regulator recently declared that TV stations should avoid promoting “vulgar internet celebrities,” and instead “vigorously promote excellent Chinese traditional culture, revolutionary culture and advanced socialist culture,” with Communist dictator Xi Jingping calling for a “national rejuvenation.”
Notably, Chinese TV programs “Youth With You” (a game-show type program where 9 males are eliminated by the audience until the remainder can form a boyband) and “Produce 101” (a South Korean K-Pop reality show) were examples of programs targeted.
Previously, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences endorsed the idea that the American CIA had engaged in a deliberate “campaign to ‘brainwash’ Asian men” into being more effeminate since the 1960s.
Beijing claims the CIA had a decades long operation to turn Chinese male celebrities into "sissy boys": https://t.co/jLvcpbtgbp
— Anthony Furey (@anthonyfurey) October 25, 2019
Earlier this year, China indicated that they would be revamping their school system’s curriculum with a new emphasis on gender roles, as the CCP government believes the current system is feminising young boys at an early age.
“Chinese boys have been spoiled by housewives and female teachers,” said Si Zefu, one of the country’s top political advisers, adding that boys would soon become “delicate, timid and effeminate” unless something was done.
Chinese social media has even wiped numerous feminist accounts in what appears to be a targeted campaign against the movement in an effort to promote higher birthrates.
The Chinese Communist Party has begun a heavy online crackdown of feminists online after recent indications that the country’s birth and marriage rate have dropped significantly.#gripthttps://t.co/XfXuTwzRWL
— gript (@griptmedia) April 26, 2021
Moreover, the CCP has hit out at “vulgar internet celebrities,” and the idolisation of wealth and celebrity more broadly, calling on broadcasters to promote “revolutionary culture” more actively and avoid the promotion of celebs who “violate public order” and “have lost morality.”
Last week Weibo – a Chinese Twitter equivalent – suspended thousands of fan club and entertainment news accounts.
In addition, a popular actress, Zhao Wei, suddenly disappeared from Chinese streaming platforms without warning or explanation, with her name wiped from the credits of movies and TV programs she had acted in.
With a new law limited children to three hours of gaming per week, the country seems to be undergoing a full top-to-bottom cultural overhaul.
Children under the age of 18 will only be allowed to play online videogames for one hour on Fridays, weekends and national holidays, the Chinese state has said, dubbing videogames “spiritual opium.”#gripthttps://t.co/WyxJrCZ8Oa
— gript (@griptmedia) August 31, 2021