Chinese online star detained for five days after singing the national anthem badly
In China, a 21-year old woman accused of “disrespecting” the national anthem sparked an immediate and draconian reaction: She was jailed.
Shanghai police said this weekend they punished Yang Kaili, one of China’s most-followed online celebrities, with five days of “administrative detention” after she bumbled through the first line of the Chinese national anthem while wearing fuzzy moose ears and waving her arms cartoonishly during a live stream.
The offending segment, broadcast from what looked like Yang’s bedroom on Oct. 7 to some of her 2 million followers on the Huya app, lasted barely 10 seconds. But it was enough to have violated China’s new national anthem law, which prohibits playing or singing the “March of the Volunteers” in a “distorted or disrespectful way in public,” police said.
Yang’s detention is the first high-profile instance of Chinese authorities enforcing the anthem law, which was passed last year after Hong Kong soccer fans booed and turned their backs at the national anthem when their squad played against China’s national team. Those found disrespecting the anthem can be detained for up to 15 days.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2018/10/15/chinese-online-star-detained-five-days-after-singing-national-anthem-badly/?utm_term=.09f7ba33f6b0