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Dylan Banned In China

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Bob Dylan was looking forward to a nice concert in Beijing until the People's Republic of China stepped in his way.

Editorial


Several legs of Bob Dylan's Asian tour have been cancelled due to the artist being declined permission to perform in Beijing, Chinese newspaper the Sunday Morning Post has reported. This news comes as China's Ministry of Culture tightens restrictions on foreign performers following Bjork's outburst at a concert in Shanghai two years ago. During a performance of the song Declare Independence, Bjork began shouting, "Tibet! Tibet!" and reportedly "hurting the feelings of the Chinese people", the Chinese Ministry of Culture is quoted as saying in the Post.

Dylan had planned to play in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taiwan following his tour of Japan, but when permission for tour dates in Shanghai and Beijing wasn't granted, Dylan cancelled the entire Eastern leg of his Asian tour. The tour company, Brokers Brothers Herald, announced the Hong Kong performance date back in January, but aroused fan suspicion due to a lack of promotion. Those suspicions were realised when the company scrapped the tour.

"China's Ministry of Culture did not give us permission to stage concerts in Beijing and Shanghai, so we had no alternative but to scrap plans for a Southeast Asian tour," Brokers Brothers Herald's chief of operations, Jeffrey Wu, told the Post. "With Beijing and China ruled out, it was not possible for him [Dylan] just to play concerts in only Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan. The chance to play in China was the main attraction for him. When that fell through everything else was called off.

"What Bjork did definitely made life very difficult for other performers. [The Ministry of Culture] are very wary of what will be said by performers on stage now". Ah, the sweet music of Chinese Communism.

Lauren Bruce, April 2010

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