Chinese TV ‘censoring men’s earrings’

Chinese broadcasters are blurring out men’s ears to hide earrings in an apparent crackdown on non-traditional fashion by the country’s media regulator.

Viewers had already noticed the strange form of censorship on iQiYi, a streaming platform described as the “Chinese Netflix”, but the phenomenon has caught the attention of a wider audience after featuring on a mainstream TV channel.

In the latest episode of the popular reality show I, Actor, movie star Jing Boran was shown with a noticeable CGI patch over his right earlobe to disguise the accessory.

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In another reality show, two male contestants sporting earrings got the same treatment.

The sudden onset of ear-blurring has both amused and mystified viewers, with many pointing the finger at the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television of the People’s Republic of China (SAPPRFT).

Although men’s earrings are “no longer a novel object or a taboo” for many average Chinese citizens, the SAPPRFT sees itself as “defender of the core values of the [ruling Communist] Party and China’s traditional culture”, says SupChina.

“Seeing men wearing earrings, in many traditional men’s point of view, is a deteriorating of their social status and respect,” the English-language news website adds.

Such a view is not shared by many members of the younger generation, however, who favour more androgynous looks.

Last September, a slew of “pretty boy” performers who appeared on state broadcaster China Central Television’s annual back-to-school gala sparked a “nationwide discussion about a perceived emasculation of men”, says Asia One.

The SAPPRFT has also barred TV channels from showing actors with tattoos, or content depicting “hip-hop culture”, as part of a crackdown on Western influences in Chinese media, CNN reports.

Grace Leung, an expert in media regulation and policy at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said the earring censorship was part of the body’s wider policy of “purify[ing] their pop culture from the Western influence and strengthening the Chinese characteristics of manhood”.