China\u2019s ongoing investigation into alleged lip-synching by a popular Taiwanese rock band may be linked to attempts by Beijing to influence the island\u2019s upcoming election, Taiwan security officials have claimed. <\/p>\n
Mayday, one of the most prominent rock groups in the Chinese-speaking world, has been under an official probe in China since early December over alleged lip-synching during their recent Shanghai shows. The band\u2019s label has repeatedly denied the accusations. <\/p>\n
In a recent briefing on security affairs, two Taiwanese intelligence officials claimed that Chinese authorities had for months pressured Mayday to publicly declare that both China and Taiwan belong to the same country. The repeated requests coincided with the start of the band\u2019s China tour\u00a0in May, claimed the Taiwanese officials, who asked not to be named for security reasons. <\/p>\n
The Taiwanese officials claimed that when Mayday refused to comply, the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s powerful propaganda department coordinated with state media to generate widespread public discussions about alleged lip-synching at their concerts to pressurize them. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have decided to publicize the incident because it is the first time they have gone after (Taiwanese artists) on such an unprecedented scale,\u201d the officials said. <\/p>\n
The Taiwanese officials said they suspected the Chinese investigation into Mayday could be related to Taiwan\u2019s presidential election in January. Taiwan has previously accused Beijing of employing a range of disinformation, military and economic operations to influence the race. <\/p>\n
Tensions across the Taiwan Strait have been on the rise in recent years, with China\u2019s ruling Communist Party ramping up military and political pressure on Taiwan, where parties\u2019 differing views on relations with China often make elections a litmus test for public sentiment on Beijing. Taiwan\u2019s current ruling party is loathed by Beijing\u2019s leaders. <\/p>\n
But three sources familiar with Taiwan\u2019s pop music scene said it is not uncommon for Taiwanese artists to face political restrictions in exchange for permission to perform in mainland China, a highly lucrative market because of its huge population. <\/p>\n
Some artists from Taiwan have encountered difficulties in China for being outspoken about the self-governing island, which China\u2019s Communist Party leaders view as their own territory despite never having controlled it. <\/p>\n
But Mayday \u2013 sometimes dubbed the \u201cAsian Beatles\u201d \u2013\u00a0has largely steered clear of politics and maintained huge popularity among mainland Chinese fans. <\/p>\n
The lip-synching accusations centered on Mayday\u2019s recent shows in Shanghai, where it performed eight times over 10 days in mid-November, to a combined audience of more than 360,000. <\/p>\n
The controversy\u00a0began in late November\u00a0when a music vlogger on Bilibili, one of China\u2019s biggest video-sharing platforms, posted a video in which he used computer software to analyze the vocals of 12 songs recorded live by a fan at Mayday\u2019s concert in Shanghai on November 16. <\/p>\n
The vlogger claimed his analysis found the band\u2019s lead singer, Ashin, lip-synched at least five songs during the three-hour gig, saying the vocalist\u2019s singing was precisely in tune for those numbers, while drifting in and out of pitch drastically in the other songs. <\/p>\n
The vlogger\u2019s allegations quickly gained traction on social media platform Weibo, becoming the\u00a0top trending topic and garnering hundreds of millions of views. <\/p>\n
The Shanghai Culture and Tourism Bureau, a municipal government department overseeing commercial performances, announced an investigation on December 3 \u2013 in a move widely reported by major Chinese state media. <\/p>\n
In a statement earlier this month, Mayday\u2019s record company B\u2019in Music dismissed the lip-synching accusations as \u201cmalicious attacks, rumors and slander,\u201d saying they had seriously damaged the band\u2019s image. <\/p>\n
On Monday, the Shanghai Culture and Tourism Bureau said the investigation was ongoing, according to Chinese media. <\/p>\n
Taiwanese artists have previously found themselves in hot water for crossing political red lines while performing in China, even with seemingly innocuous comments. <\/p>\n
In August, a Taiwanese indie band faced significant backlash after telling a crowd in Shanghai they were delighted to be holding their first-ever performance in China \u2013 a slip of the tongue that seemed to infer Taiwan is not part of the country.\u00a0They subsequently apologized and offered refunds. <\/p>\n
In 2000, popular Taiwanese singer A-mei faced a year-long ban after she performed the island\u2019s official anthem at the inauguration ceremony of former President Chen Shui-bian. Chen represented the Democratic Progressive Party, which is ostracized in Beijing for its pro-independence leanings. <\/p>\n
\u201cMany Taiwanese artists have to engage in self-censorship,\u201d said a veteran Taiwanese music producer, who asked not to publish his name because he is still working in the industry. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey often cannot say anything related to Taiwan\u2019s politics, or they could easily lose their opportunity to perform [in China].\u201d <\/p>\n
The producer also noted that it was unusual for lip-synching allegations to make big headlines in China. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere are so many similar allegations against different artists every year, and it is really unusual for it to blow up like this,\u201d they said. <\/p>\n
Lin Chen-yu, a lecturer at Cardiff University who specializes in China\u2019s censorship of Taiwanese music, said the pressure facing Taiwanese artists has increased in recent years. <\/p>\n
While simply not making pro-Taipei statements used to be enough, Taiwanese artists have increasingly faced pressure from Chinese authorities to declare support for \u201cthe motherland,\u201d Lin said. <\/p>\n
For example, a number of Taiwanese artists\u00a0have posted on social media to celebrate China\u2019s national day in recent years, while remaining silent on Taiwan\u2019s own national day, she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe pressure is especially bigger for mega stars,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n\n
China\u2019s ongoing investigation into alleged lip-synching by a popular Taiwanese rock band may be linked to attempts by Beijing to influence the island\u2019s upcoming election, Taiwan security officials have claimed. Mayday, one of the most prominent rock groups in the Chinese-speaking world, has been under an official probe in China since early December over alleged <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":13341,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13340","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}