China intensifies crackdown on celebrity & fans raising concerns over 'armies' like BTS

China has intensified its crackdown on celebrities and their fans alleging that they promoted  “chaos” and “extravagant pleasure” across the communist nation and that there was a need of reforming the “social values” within the country. In the set of guidelines issued by the Cyberspace Administration of China on Tuesday, Nov. 23 as cited by FT, Beijing tightened its grip on their advertising and celebrities fan groups. The government lambasted “the supremacy of [internet] traffic” and “abnormal aesthetics” for deteriorating “mainstream values” in Chinese society, the newspaper reported on Tuesday. The celebrities fan pages with millions of followers will now be regulated as Beijing launched a stringent campaign to mould the “youth culture” to ensure that equality and “common prosperity” thrive within the nation. 

CPC, in its new rules, has ordered the celebrities to bring onboard the professional celebrity agents that would manage the pages adequately in line with the government’s vision for the youth culture. Celebrities-related work, ads based on products, and web pages will also be limited by the CPC from appearing on television. China wants to tackle the nationwide problem of ‘fandom’ among its youth, the fans inspired by the Asian celebrities that formed ‘armies’ such as the BTS. Chinese authorities are concerned about the social movements, sources revealed to the FT while seeking to restrict the online platforms from featuring or promoting the celebrities indulged in illegal and unethical behaviour. 

China has already targeted some of the prominent stars, such as former Prada ambassador Zheng Shuang, and has coerced the South Korean entertainment companies who find a core market in China, to divert from the country as the government threatened that they will “conduct real-time monitoring” moving forward. 

China bans 'sissy men' from TV to promote 'revolutionary culture'

In a crackdown against mainstream television, China earlier banned men it considered "effeminate" from appearing on state TV programs to promote what the Chinese Communist Party described as its "revolutionary culture" among the people of the country. The decision was made after the officials slammed Chinese pop stars and their fans for emulating skinny stature, inspired by the South Korean and Japanese singers, who it said, were not "masculine enough". While using an offensive slang term literally meaning “girlie guns", the National Radio and TV Administration made the announcement regarding the ban on "sissy men and other abnormal esthetics". Chinese President Xi Jinping, meanwhile, at a state address, called for a "national rejuvenation" with tighter restrictions on business, education, religion, as well as culture.