What's driving the big cleanup of China's culture industry?

A thread runs through recent restrictions on online games and ‘sissy’ celebrity idols – Chinese President Xi Jinping’s concerns about the insidious influence on Chinese youth and the impact on his national rejuvenation goals

China's move to clean up what it calls "chaos" in celebrity fan clubs is one in a series of moves to create what Beijing considers to be a healthy environment for the country's young people to grow up in. PHOTO: AFP
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The unacceptable features include "all thinking and behaviour in the vein of pleasure seeking, inaction and sloth", all of which the CPC probably fears the country's young people are falling prey to.

Not only are young people idolising "sissy" and "unethical" stars who are transmitting wrong values, but many are also spending long hours playing video games or are living a "low-desire" lifestyle of passivity, as the recent phenomenon of "lying flat" or minimalistic living among young Chinese suggests.

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