The head of the Qu Association, Jiang Kun (left), and Guo Degang (right) have been at odds for a long time.
The Chinese Communist Party’s new wave of purges in the performing arts industry recently kicked off with the official propaganda body China Qu Opera Artists Association (CCAA) blasting the industry for vulgarity, with well-known comedian Guo Degang and his co-founded De Yun She suspected to be the first targets of the purges. Guo Degang and Deyunshe are now responding in a low key manner. The collective silence of the industry and public opinion on the new “anti-trivial” campaign has been interpreted as a reference to the continued narrowing of speech space in China. (By Huang Xiaoshan/Cheng Wen)
The Qu Qu Association held a symposium last Thursday (6), stressing the need to abolish the stereotypes of the jianghu, vulgar and shoddy performances, distortion of facts and malicious speculation and other bad customs. Emphasis on “resolutely put an end to only class rules without regulations, only talk about ‘laughing’ fruit, not the consequences, as long as the eye do not pursue the idea, tendency and behavior”.
The symposium also invited some of the former Deyunshe comedians who have broken with comedian Guo Degang to participate. The industry and the media are of the opinion that this is another criticism of the De Yunshe led by Guo Degang without naming him.
However, both Guo Degang and Deyunshe remain silent on this.
In response to our inquiries, an employee of a theater at the Deyunshe said that the club’s performances are still going on, but the employee did not respond directly to questions involving official criticism.
The small theater of Deyunshe: who was dealt with? That was issued before the festival, right. Other I do not know ah, may just recently performed in the North Exhibition, the 25th anniversary of the celebration well. Sorry, I have something here, ask the parties directly, OK?
In the 5.1 Labor Day before, the Qu Association had issued a letter of initiative to strengthen the construction of the comic industry, claiming to resist vulgar and shoddy performances. After that, Guo Degang canceled his 2021 unboxing performance, which was originally held in early May, and instead low-keyed it to the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Deyunshe. Remarkably, neither official figures nor their comic industry counterparts were there to support the celebration.
Compare this to 2006, when the Communist Party’s officially-controlled Qu Association proposed an anti-trivial model for De Yunshe’s performances, which was collectively criticized by the public and even the official media. Fifteen years later, the media and the Deyunshe have remained silent in the face of a new anti-trivial campaign, also launched by the Chinese Qu Association, which has been interpreted as a reference to the continued retreat of China’s speech space.
One industry insider pointed out that China’s current public opinion environment is different from what it used to be. He also believes that forcing comic artists to take on a political propaganda function is itself a violation of the basic principles of artistic creation.
He said, “The anti-trivial thing, right? He and Jiang Kun’s personal feud. I knew Jiang Kun very well 20 years ago, and there was some cooperation during the big celebration. Now I tell you, this public opinion environment has been very different, one thing is certain, Jiang Kun occupies the public territory, the official revenge private revenge, this is the nail in the coffin. The system of these comic with quotation marks “artists” they know in their hearts, in front of Guo Degang they are nothing. The wood is in the forest, the wind will destroy the ah.
We asked China Qu Association, the other side refused to respond positively to whether the action was authorized by superiors, and also refused to comment on the relationship between Jiang Kun and De Yunshe.
China Quake Association: Ah, this thing, sorry, this thing we have not received any information, so I’m not sure. I need to report to our leaders.
The reporter called the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the parent organization of the CAC, but the other side also refused to comment.
Some analysts believe that Guo Degang’s organized master-disciple relationship at the Deyunshe has made the authorities feel threatened by the new round of rectification in the performing arts.
Another source told the station that the matter is suspected to be related to the possible money laundering issues involved in actor Zheng Shuang’s hundreds of millions of yuan shady contract. The authorities have called for another purge of the performing arts industry, and tax checks are underway for industry insiders, and it is inevitable that Guo Degang and the Deyun Society will be the focus of attention.
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