Chinese authorities fined a comedy company millions of yuan on Wednesday and threatened further legal action after one of its members made an oblique joke about the People’s Liberation Army during a stand-up act.
Li Haoshi, who performs under the name House, referred to a PLA slogan during a show in Beijing on Saturday, according to audio posted on social media network Weibo.
Li was talking about his pet dogs chasing a squirrel when he referred to the slogan “Good style of work, capable of winning battles”.
Beijing’s Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau said on Wednesday it had investigated Li’s agency after a report from a member of the public and found the joke had broken the law and “caused a bad social impact”.
Xiaoguo Culture Media was fined 14.7 million yuan (US$2.13 million) and had all its future performances suspended indefinitely in both Beijing and Shanghai.
The space for dissent in China has shrunk dramatically over the past decade under leader Xi Jinping.
Authorities have tightened online censorship and cracked down on independent media and artistic expression.
Xi has promoted a muscular, hardline nationalism and has made boosting the armed forces’ capabilities a political and economic priority, extolling their strength in domestic propaganda campaigns.
