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In latest morality move, China targets cartoons and vulgar or pornographic content

WION Web Team
NEW DELHIUpdated: Sep 25, 2021, 02:07 PM IST
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(File photo) Chinese President Xi Jinping Photograph:(AFP)

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All of this started as China's ruling Communist Party stepped up a campaign to tidy out its entertainment industry in recent months, taking action against “online idols”. It also promised tougher penalties for celebrities who engage in illegal activities

In an effort to bring Beijing's thriving entertainment industry to heel, China's broadcasting regulator has said that it will encourage online producers to create “healthy” cartoons and clamp down on violent, vulgar or pornographic content.

In a notice, the National Radio and Television Administration said that children and young people were the main audiences for cartoons, and qualified agencies need to broadcast content that “upholds truth, goodness and beauty”.

All of this started as China's ruling Communist Party stepped up a campaign to tidy out its entertainment industry in recent months, taking action against “online idols”. It also promised tougher penalties for celebrities who engage in illegal activities.

A few weeks ago, the authorities banned some reality shows, restricted social media fan culture, and ordered broadcasters to resist “abnormal aesthetics” such as “sissy” men.

They have also targeted what they deem to be “vulgar influencers”, stars’ inflated pay and performers with “lapsed morals”.

The campaigns come as a wider effort to intervene in all aspects of the country’s culture and economy, with the government also promising to tackle inequality, soaring property prices and profit-seeking education institutions.