2008.11.25 - AP/Hollywood Reporter - China’s Communist Party Blasts Guns N’ Roses

China’s Communist Party blasts Guns N’ Roses

By Associated Press, AP

BEIJING -- A newspaper published by China's ruling Communist Party is blasting the latest Guns N' Roses album as an attack on the Chinese nation.

Delayed since recording began in 1994, “Chinese Democracy” hit stores in the U.S. on Sunday, though it is unlikely to be sold legally in China, where censors maintain tight control over films, music and publications.

In an article Monday headlined “American band releases album venomously attacking China,” the Global Times said unidentified Chinese Internet users had described the album as part of a plot by some in the West to “grasp and control the world using democracy as a pawn.”

The album “turns its spear point on China,” the article said.

China’s Foreign Ministry did not respond to faxed questions about the article, though a spokesman speaking on the routine condition of anonymity said, “We don’t need to comment on that.”

Spokesmen for the Culture Ministry and State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, government bodies that regulate album releases and performances, could not be reached for comment.

The Global Times article referred only to the album’s title and not to specific song lyrics. The title track makes a reference to the Falun Gong meditation movement that was banned by China as an “evil cult” and warns “if your Great Wall rocks, blame yourself,” in an apparent message to the nation’s authoritarian government.

Songs from the album could be heard Monday on Internet sites such as YouTube and the band’s MySpace page, and it was not immediately possible to tell whether China’s Internet monitors were seeking to block access to them.

Monitors use content filters that highlight and sometimes block messages containing words like “democracy.” That prompted some Internet users to combine English and Chinese characters in their postings about the album to skirt such monitoring.

China approves only limited numbers of foreign films and recordings for distribution each year, partly because of political concerns but also to protect domestic producers.

Live performances also are regulated closely, with bands forced to submit set lists beforehand.

Despite such restrictions, computer file-sharing and pirating of DVDs, computer games and music CDs is rampant in China, meaning much banned material is available through alternative channels.

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