China is banning effeminate men from appearing on television, the Chinese government announced Thursday.
Under a new directive issued by China’s National Radio and Television Administration, Chinese broadcasters must promote “excellent traditional culture, revolutionary culture and advanced socialist culture,” according to a translation by the Associated Press. Additionally, broadcasters must “resolutely put an end to sissy men and other abnormal aesthetics.”
Broadcasters must also set aside content featuring excessive wealth, fame, instead displaying “truth, goodness and beauty.” (RELATED: China Bans Karaoke Songs That ‘Endanger National Unity’)
Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) is shown around the offices of Chinese tech firm Huawei technologies by its President Ren Zhengfei in London during his state visit on October 21, 2015. (Photo by MATTHEW LLOYD/AFP via Getty Images)
The directive is part of “national rejuvenation,” a cultural program advocated for by President Xi Jinping which seeks to institute certain values in Chinese culture, according to the AP. The broadcast rules reflect concern by the Chinese government that widespread, feminine depictions of men might discourage young men from masculine pursuits, the AP reported.
In recent months, the Chinese government asserted control over the nation’s digital entertainment and social media industries in a bid to impose its cultural policies.
For example, the government limited children’s permitted video game time to three hours per week on Monday, following comments by a state-affiliated media company characterizing online gaming as an “opium for the mind.”
China also passed an expansive data privacy law last month designed to prevent social media companies from collecting data to use in advertising to Chinese citizens, according to state-affiliated outlet Xinhua. The country passed another law Friday restricting how social media companies can employ suggestion algorithms.
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