Last year on 23/11/2021 CAPA (China Association of Performing Arts), during an online livestream, released a list of 88 names that in their opinion should be boycotted by the industry. The list included mostly livestreamers but for the first time in history also traditional entertainers - Kris Wu, Zheng Shuang and Zhang Zhehan.
Asked for the reasons of that change by the People Daily's reporter, CAPA responded that the rapid development of the entertainment industry causes more and more problematic behaviors and chaos in the "fan circle". Stars are setting a bad example, especially for young people. They also participate in online streams to sell products so they belong on this list.
CAPA official finished by stating that they're following the memo of the Central Propaganda Department and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism which put a lot of effort into rectifying the chaos and have severely cracked down on the illegal and unethical behavior of entertainers. He assured that their committee of experts examined the cases thoroughly based on the memos and came to the conclusion that these stars should not be platformed.
Source: Weibo Translation by QuelleVous
The list was passed to different platforms and leaders to let them decide on next steps.
The list got instantly on Hot Search and was published on Xinhua and People's Daily what means this was pre-released and coordinated PR campaign.
This is the 9th time they've released such a list, the last time was back in May. The last time didn't get mass publicity like this time because they didn't include any traditional stars. Why are Xinhua and PD covering? You can see who is reporting on it in their posts. They invited the reporters to tune in and gave them a preview so they can file right away. It's how PR campaigns work. Why do people conduct PR campaigns? They want attention.
After being contacted, Xinhua confirmed that the article was an individual call from the reporter (记者王思北、白瀛 - Reporter Wang Sibei, Bai Ying) that wanted to write a piece on it. Source
As for the reasons Zhang Zhehan was banned and put on this list alongside accused of rape Kris Wu and banned by government tax evader Zheng Shuang, they stated:
- causing a widespread public debate due to visiting Yasukuni Shrine
- misconducts seriously damaging national sentiment
- whitewashing by fans
- affecting the normal order of society by offline calls, on-site petitions, complaints and reports
- being a bad influence on many underage fans
The enlisted artists got 10 working days to submit the appeal to the Secretariat of the Network Performance (Live Streaming) Branch of the CAPA which is a unusually short time, especially considering covid restrictions put up in China.
Li XueZheng appearance
In the evening of 23/11, Li Xuezheng ( 李学政), among others a famous, very well respected in the industry producer, the director of the Golden Shield Film and Television Center of the Logistics Support Department of the Central Military Commission (find more about him on his Baike page), shared 2 posts on Weibo asking what are the rules/documents that CAPA followed to release their list and to make clear why Zhang Zhehan is also on this list.
In the first post he asked about the criteria to be put on that list, who sets the rules and procedures, who and how makes the final decision and who oversees the behavior of the organization.
He also asked about the appeal process - who will assess those appeals, what are the criteria and who makes the final decision.
In his second post, he specifically named only Zhang Zhehan. He asked what were the standards in drawing up this list of artists. He also pointed out that there is a conflict between NRTA's information denying Zhang Zhehan was ever officially banned (ranked higher) and an industry association's punishment (ranked lower). He again demanded to know what are the standards and the procedures following, and who is supervising the group of people that came up with this list and these standards.
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