Law would pull plug on fake singing
12/3/2005 9:07
China's legislature and its chief advisory body are not just dealing
with dry economic and political policies during their annual sessions in
Beijing.
They're also concerned with issues that have a more cultural
orientation - such as fake singing by music stars and bad grammar at the
university level.
In the first case, Ma Bomin, a member of the advisory
group, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, is calling for a
"comprehensive law" regulating the country's booming cultural and entertainment
activities, reported The Beijing News.
Ma, an official from the Shanghai
Municipal Culture, Radio, Film and Television Administration, is upset that some
Chinese performers play pre-recorded tapes during their shows and only pretend
to sing.
Lip-synching is a shoddy entertainment practice and should be
banned, Ma told reporters.
Three years ago, famous rocker Cui Jian made a
high-profile plea urging Chinese singers to actually sing at their concerts. The
Ministry of Culture issued a regulation against the practice, but implementation
has been ineffective.
Pang fei, head of a non-governmental organization
affiliated with Beijing University, said legislation banning lip-synching should
proceed cautiously and suggested that the entertainment industry should be
encouraged to handle the problem itself.
In the other move against sloppy
culture, a National People's Congress deputy said yesterday that legislation is
needed to make sure the Chinese language receives proper respect from young
scholars.
"Grammatical mistakes constantly occur in their essays as well as
oral discourses, not to mention coarse wording and improper style," Beijing
University Professor Shen Dan said in a proposal submitted to the national
legislature.
The specialist on European and American literature said the
language problems occur mainly because many Chinese universities and graduate
schools neglect the Chinese language and rarely include it in their
curricula.
"In contrast, young researchers tend to spend more time on English
studies, and some don't even care to learn about the essence of their own
culture," she said.
Unless the trend is reversed, she said it could endanger
the purity of the Chinese language and the continuity of the national
culture.
Xinhua
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