China’s popular Karaoke Bars have come under moral censors. Surveillance system is being fitted in these joints to let the authorities know when illegal music and pornographic videos are downloaded.
Songs targeted include those containing obscenities and those that are considered to be rallying calls for independence in Xinjiang or Tibet, Clifford Coonan reports in The Independent.
The southern city of Chongqing is the latest area to have the national karaoke content management system, or the "Black Box", installed in its karaoke bars. The device is designed to monitor the play list remotely and automatically alerts police. Last month nearly 180 bars in the city were fitted with the system.
According to the Chongqing Evening News, a popular song that has attracted moral censor’s attention is "Conquer the World". This satirical song is accompanied by a graphic video that depicts a government official who fantasises about taking French women to Japan to shoot pornographic videos, and then flies to the US to urinate on the steps of the White House.
A red light flashes at the local police headquarters when a forbidden song is chosen. These songs and music videos are usually downloaded from online sources, which make them hard to monitor. Despite the Great Firewall of China, which blocks access to banned websites, many internet users still find ways around the methods of blocking sites.
