I saw on a famous Chinese cultural critic's blog a list of artists banned by the Ministry of Culture of China. I was shocked at first, because I thought the reason they got banned was the content of their works, and a bunch of names in there are rarely associated with sex or violence or whatever unhealthy. Then I figured, politics is probably the bigger bitch here. Most of them probably have made some sort of statement, or have participated some activities or concerts that advocated for the independence or Tibet, the independence of Taiwan, the freedom of Fa Lun Gong (a group considered cult by Chinese government), or against Beijing Olympics 2008. I don't know how he got access to this list. As he works for one of the biggest commentary magazines in China, he might have got this as part of the policy package from the Ministry of Culture. I am sure this is not the ultimate list of all the artists that will get banned, but on the other hand, I also believe that if some agency wants to include some of the black-listed artist, there's a way to work it.

Here we go:

A Tribe Called Quest
Alanis Morissette
Ben Harper
Beck
Biz Markie
Blur
Bjork
Beastie Boys
Buddy Guy
Buffalo Daughter
Blues Traveler
Blackalicious
Blondie
Celibate Rifles
Cibo Matto
Dadon
De La Soul
Dave Matthews Band
Eskimo Joe
Eddie Vedder & Mike McCready
Foo Fighters
Fugees
Garpa
Gerling
Garbage
Herbie Hancock
Jon Spencer
John Lee Hooker
Jebediah
Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros
KRS-ONE
Kraftwerk
Live
Luscious Jackson
Lee Perry
Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Mad Professor
Michael Stipe & Mike Mills
Mutabaruka
Money Mark
Nawang Khechog
Not From There
Noel Gallagher
Neil Finn
Otis Rush
Pavement
Porno for Pyros
Pearl Jam
Pulp
Patti Smith
R.E.M.
Radiohead
Rage Against The Machine
Richie Havens
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Rancid
Regurgitator
Run DMC
Sonic Youth
Sean Lennon
Spiderbait
Taj Mahal
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Skatalites
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
The Wallflowers
The Cult
Tracy Chapman
The Roots
The Mavis’s
The Avalanches
The Living End
Urban Dance Squad
U2
Wyclef Jean
Wu-Tang Clan
You Am I
Thom Yorke
Trans Am
Yoko Ono
Yungchen Lhamo

The whole thing is stupid.

First, all of these artists, or most of them, need education. Do they really know what the issue at root is of those subjects? They simply can't resist the sexy appeal of the name "protecting the freedom of religion" or something like that.

Second, instead of giving credit for what these artists said, Chinese government could have been smarter and just ignored them. I highly doubt any of these artists would be shouting "Free Tibet!" in their concert in China. Once they're in China, their eyeballs and their mind will be too busy looking around learning and getting their new brain-wash from this country to remember their never-has-been-firm stance on those issues. Plus people in the cities, those that could be possible performing destinations, are educated well enough to hold their always-has-been-firm stance on those issues. The government should have more faith in the people that they won't change their political opinion just because some pop singer says so and so.

Deep down it is the rivalry of two ideologies, which might never be resolved, with many many people like me caught in between.

Recently a friend who is going back to China told me that when she was booking her plane ticket, because it was a single trip, the ticket agent asked whether she's a U.S. citizen. The ticket agent said right now Chinese government does not allow U.S. citizens to buy single-trip tickets to China. Our speculation is that this is partly a job market protection policy. While the unemployment rate in the U.S. has flown up over 8%, China is working on maintaining an economic growth of 8%. If what that ticket agent said was true, basically Chinese government has said no to the U.S. labor export and no to U.S. emigration. Not that either is necessarily going to happen on a large or visible scale, but the translation of power shifting has never manifested faster.