MOREN MAO
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ISSUE 1MARCH 2024
From the 90s’ most prominent punk star to the best indie rock band of the 21st century, this newsletter explores the impact of censorship and authoritarian control on the yaogun community. Composed of translated excerpts from interviews, album booklets, and internet comments, accompanied by lyrical analysis and curated playlists.
New Little Bar music venue located in the Yulin Subdistrict of Chengdu. The original Little Bar location was the birthplace of underground music in Chengdu, China. Photographed by 蔡鸣 (Cai Min), 2009.
SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
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ONLINE CENSORSHIP AND POLITICAL ACTIVISM
BAND:
盘古乐队 (PUNKGOD)
Listen to a curated playlist of PunkGod here:
YOUTUBE:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQots5ZXea6BERurXUJItzS9liXlq-l8c&si=JPc_Mdvr4L2Mhfv2
PunkGod (also referred to as Pangu) is a punk band characterized by their extremist lyrics, they have been thoroughly backlisted in China for being unambiguously violent, political, and anti-CCP. In 2004, during their performance in Taiwan, the drummer yelled out “Independence to Taiwan.” In reaction, China put them on a wanted list. Unable to return to China, the band members escaped to Sweden and received asylum there. Today, when this band is mentioned online, many users will self-censor and use shorthands to avoid directly mentioning their name.
Created in the early 2000s, Oasis Music website (绿洲音乐网) was one of the first forum-based websites for the yaogun community. In 2004, the forum witnessed an incident of enforced online censorship and subsequent self-censorship. Cao Shi (曹石), who ran the website, described:
“It began with a call from the police station, they asked if I was managing the Oasis Music website. I said yes.
The police officer said there’s a problem with your website, we shut it down, and you need to come to the station. I was shocked and didn’t know what was going on. I went there and they explained that the website contained sensitive topics. I said there shouldn’t be, because I already did a lot of keyword blocking, for instance, all the “anti-Japanese” stuff.
They then said it was because someone shared Pangu’s lyrics. I didn’t expect that Pangu would be a sensitive topic. But well, this was also right after Pangu had their Taiwan incident.
I asked them what should I do now. They said to shut down the website, but I refused, I already hosted the website for so many years.
They then said to pay a fine, but I told them I didn’t have any money either. In the end, they said to shut down the website for a month and do some self-reflection. So, the Oasis Music was down for a month…When the website resumed operations, I found out who posted the Pangu lyrics, it was a middle school girl from Xi’an. I told her this to scare her. I told her that the cops were out looking for her, and she should get her toothbrush and towels ready for a couple of years in jail, I just wanted to teach her a lesson.
Afterward, we put Pangu on the keyword-blocking list as well, then I hired people to watch the website every day. If there is anything potentially sensitive, it will be deleted immediately. I realized that once a website gains traction, there will be many pairs of eyes watching you, waiting for something to happen. Back then, Oasis Music was shut down many times over. This is the way things are, it’s fine when you aren’t being watched, but they will always find faults when you are being watched. (Chuizi, 2015: 67)”
Though exiled, PunkGod continues to make music. Their songs largely remain political in nature but also incorporates traditional Chinese elements in composition. PunkGod amassed more than fifty albums, most of their discography can be found on YouTube and SoundCloud. Not available on Spotify.
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