Jennifer Wu

In August, China posted a “black-list” of 100 hundred songs and claimed that they “endangered national security.” The list included songs by popular artists such as Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and Backstreet Boys (only to name a few). China’s Ministry of Culture requires that songs be translated to Chinese and undergo inspection, review, and registration before being published online. The songs were simply banned because they were not submitted for review.

China censors many websites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube; the purpose being to keep society under control of the government. A democracy would not work in China because of the massive number of people, and censorship is a way to keep society under control by disconnecting them from revolutionary ideas. However, to democratic societies, China’s censorship represents a violation of human rights and freedoms, and people have less opinions because they are not given a chance to think freely.

It’s not a wonder that China’s economy is 20 years behind, their economy is limited to the ideas of the Chinese government!

Food for thought: Is China’s censorship of pop songs simply a claim for authority? The content in the lyrics certainly do not represent itself a threat to national security.

Word Count: 198

Sources: Reuter’s and Net Censorship Forum