A Chinese comedian who crossed Beijing’s political redline has been censored across Chinese social media platforms following his tour to North America that wrapped in Toronto last month.
Wang Yeuchi, who is also known by his stage name Chi Zi, embarked on a tour starting Feb. 7 in Vancouver, visiting cities in Canada and the United States. The tour, dubbed “Cultural Output” in Chinese, was regarded as a satire on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) propaganda campaign that sought to promote the regime’s image and cultural influence.
Wang’s jokes, however, hit a nerve in Beijing when they touched on issues such as the regime’s human rights issues relating to Uyghurs in China’s western province of Xinjiang, the country’s constitution change, and its draconian COVID-19 policy.
“You won’t see this show in [the mainland],” Wang said in Chinese in a Feb. 1 YouTube video promoting his show, indicating that the content in the performance won’t be permitted by the Chinese authorities.
Currently, a search for Wang’s actual and stage name yields no results on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform, even though he is being described as a “very well-known” figure in the country, according to a report by NetEase, a Chinese online media outlet. China’s censors also removed almost all mentions of the comedian on other social media platforms in the country, such as Douban and Zhihu. Baidu, a Chinese search engine, has also purged articles about Wang and his North American tour.
The Epoch Times sought comment from VISM Entertainment, the parent company of Infinite Entertainment, which organized Wang’s tour in North America, but didn’t hear back immediately.
People who attended Wang’s shows have applauded his courage while expressing concerns for his career and safety in China.
“In my opinion, he probably can no longer continue his career in China,” Alex Yang, a Toronto resident who saw Chi Zi’s show at the John Bassett Theatre on Feb. 17, told the Globe and Mail.
“Objectively speaking, his jokes didn’t go that far. But given the environment for public opinions in today’s China, he probably had seen [the consequence] coming.”