KR North Korean band censored in China due to excessively anti-American lyrics

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/18/north-korean-moranbong-anti-american-lyrics

 

[Kršćanin Čendlervic]

North Korea is like China's embarrassingly autistic younger brother.

 

[Flowers For Sonichu]

The rumor when it was initially canceled was because Kim Jong Un was banging one of the singers or something. China's got a bizarre relationship with North Korea. I had middle school students who were unaware of the existence of NK and had no idea who the Kim family was, and my friend got into deep shit with the authorities at his school for teaching about NK in his history class.

 

[Dudeofteenage]

I had middle school students who were unaware of the existence of NK and had no idea who the Kim family was, and my friend got into deep shit with the authorities at his school for teaching about NK in his history class.

Funny, my students all knew about North Korea and didn't generally view it very favourably

 

[P.A]

I'm surprised North Korea allows things like bands in the first place.

 

[StupidSexyFlanders]

I'm surprised North Korea allows things like bands in the first place.

Like everything else it's really heavily regulated by the government. Musicians are hand picked from schools and can only makes songs that glorify the leaders and the state and/or demonizing everything related to the US and capitalism

 

[Dudeofteenage]

Yeah these aren't a bunch of people who just decided to jam together.

 

[Flowers For Sonichu]

Funny, my students all knew about North Korea and didn't generally view it very favourably

Wait you're in China too?

 

[Dudeofteenage]

Wait you're in China too?

Nah, I worked there a few years ago though.

 

[Red_Rager]

I'm surprised North Korea allows things like bands in the first place.

As authoritarian as North Korea is but not even they can eliminate music and art as it is a part of the human experience. The only thing they can do is control it and mold popular culture to the party line. Kim Jung Il believed in the power of pop culture to foster the right ideas.

Kim Jong Il oversaw the Propaganda and Agitation department, the government agency responsible for media control and censorship. Kim gave firm instructions that the party's monolithic ideological message be communicated constantly by writers, artists, and officials in the media. According to official accounts, he revolutionized Korean fine arts by encouraging the production of new works in new media. This included the art of film and cinema. Mixing history, political ideology, and movie-making, Kim encouraged the production of several epic films, which glorified works written by his father.

http://www.biography.com/people/kim-jong-il-201050#rise-to-power

The arts to the North Korean government is a tool to give themselves asspats. Just take a look at the reasoning behind why North Korea holds the Mass Games (besides it being a way to bring in tourist $$$).

To get back on topic, these girls have a lot of talent. If I understood what the hell they are saying I would probably feel insulted right now

It seems rather odd how quickly the concert was cancelled, smells of poor planning. Didn't they know what songs were going to be played beforehand? Why didn't the censors step in sooner? Were the Norks just going to continue playing the songs anyways and China had to step in?

 

[Datiko]

I had middle school students who were unaware of the existence of NK and had no idea who the Kim family was, and my friend got into deep shit with the authorities at his school for teaching about NK in his history class.

Curious about that. Most Chinese know about Liaoning and Dandong specifically because its next to the DPRK. Are you sure you were in the PRC ? Maybe they didn't want a foreigner teaching history or something. Really would like to know more.

 

[Dudeofteenage]

It seems rather odd how quickly the concert was cancelled, smells of poor planning. Didn't they know what songs were going to be played beforehand? Why didn't the censors step in sooner? Were the Norks just going to continue playing the songs anyways and China had to step in?

This is a bit conspiracy-theorist but it's possible that the Chinese cancelled at the last minute because they wanted to get maximum publicity. Obviously Sino-American relations are not rosy but they are a lot better than North Korean-American relations, and China has often tried to leverage its position as an intermediary between North Korea and America - not just against Americans, either, China repeatedly invokes American disapproval in attempts to get North Korea to stop doing things China doesn't want them to do (e.g. build nuclear weapons). So this could be a bit of diplomatic signalling?

But on the other hand it could just be the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing - it's possible a provincial/municipal/cultural official signed off on the concert and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs found out at the last minute and scrambled to shut it down. For all that China is often confrontational with America, they may have genuinely felt they didn't need the bad headlines.

 

[Flowers For Sonichu]

Curious about that. Most Chinese know about Liaoning and Dandong specifically because its next to the DPRK. Are you sure you were in the PRC ? Maybe they didn't want a foreigner teaching history or something. Really would like to know more.

He teaches International Baccalaureate history. Pretty prestegious program, there was only one school within 50 miles of where I grew up that had that program in the US. The only problem is that the offical textbook is banned here

 

[AnOminous]

But on the other hand it could just be the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing - it's possible a provincial/municipal/cultural official signed off on the concert and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs found out at the last minute and scrambled to shut it down. For all that China is often confrontational with America, they may have genuinely felt they didn't need the bad headlines.

Could be. Whatever actually prompted them to shut it down, they appear interested in sending a conciliatory diplomatic message to the U.S., which is an odd way of doing it but still more or less positive.

 

[Datiko]

He teaches International Baccalaureate history. Pretty prestegious program, there was only one school within 50 miles of where I grew up that had that program in the US. The only problem is that the offical textbook is banned here

Hmmmm weird. Don't think I'm doubting you, just think its really unusual. IB is more common in Asia than the US because most people do AP instead. A full AP course load with scores of 4/5 is generally seen as equivalent to completing a full IB with an upper score.

 

[Dudeofteenage]

Could be. Whatever actually prompted them to shut it down, they appear interested in sending a conciliatory diplomatic message to the U.S., which is an odd way of doing it but still more or less positive.

A fairly low-key conciliatory message, though, and it is hard to imagine any sensible US policy maker really caring