China’s anti-corruption watchdog slams entertainment industry
Celebrities dragged into Xi Jinping’s ‘common prosperity’ drive against wealth and excess
Chinese actress Zhao Wei
Chinese actress Zhao Wei has been scrubbed from online platforms in the country © AFP
August 29, 2021 6:31 am by Thomas Hale in Hong Kong
China’s anti-corruption watchdog has hit out at the country’s entertainment industry as Beijing tightens its grip on online celebrity culture and widens the scope of a crackdown on wealth and big business.
A statement posted on the website of China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection this weekend cited a wave of “negative news” and singled out several celebrities, including former Prada ambassador Zheng Shuang, who is accused of tax evasion, and Canadian-Chinese star Kris Wu, who was recently arrested on suspicion of rape.
The watchdog’s comments came after China’s internet regulator on Friday set out a list of 10 measures to address issues in the sector, adding that it would “resolve the problem of chaos” in online fan culture that it said was having a negative impact on young people. The measures include banning online popularity rankings of celebrities and regulating companies that work with them.
Separately, the name of Zhao Wei, a billionaire actress with ties to the country’s tech industry, has been scrubbed from Chinese online platforms in recent days and shows referring to her have been removed.
The entertainment crackdown follows the launch of Chinese president Xi Jinping’s push for “common prosperity”, which aims to more widely distribute wealth and follows a series of regulatory interventions that have strengthened the party’s control over the private sector.
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A shift in the Communist party’s approach to private business has already included a move to reduce after-work drinking following rising outrage over sexual assault, which was thrust into the spotlight after a scandal at tech company Alibaba this month.
Shows that included Zhao, who worked as an ambassador for Italian brand Fendi last year, were removed from platforms such as Tencent Video last week. Zhao and her husband were previously embroiled in an investment scandal that led to them being banned from China’s securities market in 2017.
Zhao’s wealth has in part come from stakes in the tech industry, which has come under intense government scrutiny since the last-minute cancellation of the initial public offering of fintech Ant Group in November after its founder Jack Ma publicly criticised the Chinese financial system. Zhao bought stakes in Alibaba Pictures in 2014, a film company that forms part of Ma’s tech empire.
Zheng, who is well known for her roles in Chinese television, will need to pay a $46m fine for tax evasion, according to state media reports this weekend that linked the penalty to the common prosperity goal. Zheng had already come under intense scrutiny earlier this year for having two children in the US through surrogacy, which is illegal in China, and was dropped by Prada over the ensuing row.
Xi’s push for common prosperity has sparked fears across the global luxury sector, where share prices of leading companies such as LVMH and Burberry have slumped in recent days. On Thursday, Han Wenxiu, an economic official, said common prosperity did not mean China would “rob the rich to help the poor”.
Separately on Friday, the Cyberspace Administration of China launched a two-month campaign targeting harmful information about finance and the economy, such as rumours and falseChina’s anti-corruption watchdog slams entertainment industry
Celebrities dragged into Xi Jinping’s ‘common prosperity’ drive against wealth and excess
Chinese actress Zhao Wei
Chinese actress Zhao Wei has been scrubbed from online platforms in the country © AFP
August 29, 2021 6:31 am by Thomas Hale in Hong Kong
China’s anti-corruption watchdog has hit out at the country’s entertainment industry as Beijing tightens its grip on online celebrity culture and widens the scope of a crackdown on wealth and big business.
A statement posted on the website of China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection this weekend cited a wave of “negative news” and singled out several celebrities, including former Prada ambassador Zheng Shuang, who is accused of tax evasion, and Canadian-Chinese star Kris Wu, who was recently arrested on suspicion of rape.
The watchdog’s comments came after China’s internet regulator on Friday set out a list of 10 measures to address issues in the sector, adding that it would “resolve the problem of chaos” in online fan culture that it said was having a negative impact on young people. The measures include banning online popularity rankings of celebrities and regulating companies that work with them.
Separately, the name of Zhao Wei, a billionaire actress with ties to the country’s tech industry, has been scrubbed from Chinese online platforms in recent days and shows referring to her have been removed.
The entertainment crackdown follows the launch of Chinese president Xi Jinping’s push for “common prosperity”, which aims to more widely distribute wealth and follows a series of regulatory interventions that have strengthened the party’s control over the private sector.
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Chinese entertainment stocks: ban on celebrity ranking leaves fan culture idle
A shift in the Communist party’s approach to private business has already included a move to reduce after-work drinking following rising outrage over sexual assault, which was thrust into the spotlight after a scandal at tech company Alibaba this month.
Shows that included Zhao, who worked as an ambassador for Italian brand Fendi last year, were removed from platforms such as Tencent Video last week. Zhao and her husband were previously embroiled in an investment scandal that led to them being banned from China’s securities market in 2017.
Zhao’s wealth has in part come from stakes in the tech industry, which has come under intense government scrutiny since the last-minute cancellation of the initial public offering of fintech Ant Group in November after its founder Jack Ma publicly criticised the Chinese financial system. Zhao bought stakes in Alibaba Pictures in 2014, a film company that forms part of Ma’s tech empire.
Zheng, who is well known for her roles in Chinese television, will need to pay a $46m fine for tax evasion, according to state media reports this weekend that linked the penalty to the common prosperity goal. Zheng had already come under intense scrutiny earlier this year for having two children in the US through surrogacy, which is illegal in China, and was dropped by Prada over the ensuing row.
Xi’s push for common prosperity has sparked fears across the global luxury sector, where share prices of leading companies such as LVMH and Burberry have slumped in recent days. On Thursday, Han Wenxiu, an economic official, said common prosperity did not mean China would “rob the rich to help the poor”.
Separately on Friday, the Cyberspace Administration of China launched a two-month campaign targeting harmful information about finance and the economy, such as rumours and false interpretation of data.
The story above illustrates how the Chinese Communist Party is in survival mode. The West is in suicidal mode. No society, faced with the almost insurmountable challenges with which capitalist industry and enterprise have beleaguered it, will be able to survive long without radical energic measures aimed at restoring some form of rationality to its institutions.
I am referring to the challenges posed by overpopulation and overconsumption, both of which are essential aspects of the capitalist mode of production whereby the "private" appropriation of social resources is safeguarded and sanctioned by "public" institutions whose overriding aim is to socialize costs and to privatize gains. Given that in capitalist enterprise gains are unlimited, it follows that the costs (Pigou's "externalities") are not only "internal" to the system but must lead inevitably to the exhaustion of the ecosphere. The most curious thing is that Marx NEVER picked up on this dynamic! Nor did Schumpeter.
It befell to Max Weber to notice the intrinsic irrationality of capitalism as a mode of accounting purposive rationality but ultimately irrational socio-economic expanded reproduction. The capitalist conductor keeps collecting passenger fares while the bus heads over the precipice!
I have demonstrated in some of my studies through simple conceptual analysis that the concept of market competition is "aporetic" (from the Greek, a-poria, no pores, cannot breathe) because the aim of competition is to quash competition. Competition requires "regulation". But then, a "regulated competition" is an oxymoron because "rules" cannot be neutral. Change the rules in tennis and Federer and Nadal are wiped out by the new "competitors". Similarly, monopoly is impossible unless an agent external to "the market", "regulator", is asleep at the wheel.
The FT article below is a very topical and clear example of how economics mumbo jumbo about "markets" is... just that !
UK needs to sort out messy PCR test market
More robust action necessary to protect consumers obliged to use providers
US passengers arrive at Heathrow Airport
The UK is more insistent on PCR testing than many other countries © Andy Rain/EPA/Shutterstock
August 29, 2021 1:20 pm by The editorial board
Price gouging, tests that arrive late or not at all, and refusing refunds: these are just some of the types of shoddy behaviour travellers to and from the UK have put up with this summer from private companies supplying compulsory Covid-19 tests. Widespread sharp practice in the provision of PCR tests is unacceptable in a market created by a government that has then also mandated demand. Sajid Javid, the health secretary, has launched a crackdown on “cowboy” providers that advertise misleading prices; the Competition and Markets Authority has pledged to take companies that flout consumer law to court. Coming at the tail-end of the summer holidays, that is still too little, too late.
Travellers are directed to a government website with a list of 400 private providers of PCR tests. These are considered more accurate than rapid lateral flow tests, but can range in cost from tens to hundreds of pounds. Contrast that with countries such as Greece and France, where prices are capped at around €50 (France even provided them for free for tourists until July).
The UK is also more insistent on PCR testing than many other countries, requiring travellers to be tested on arrival — or face a fine of £2,000 — even if they are double-vaccinated against coronavirus. The government maintains that this is because as well as being more accurate, PCR tests can be sequenced, unlike lateral flow tests. In reality, only about 5 per cent of tests are sent for such analysis.
There are barely any checks on companies that appear on the official website. Yet even if the government insists that it does not endorse any of the providers, inclusion on such a list acts as a kind of imprimatur for an unsuspecting public. Of the 400 providers, just 25 are actually fully accredited by the official watchdog.
Creating a market with few barriers was an express aim of the government in an attempt to boost supply. The idea was that competition would stabilise prices to benefit the consumer. But this is not a normal market, and it is not working well: a cursory check by the Department of Health found that 85 providers displayed misleading prices, such as not including hidden charges. The companies had a deadline of last week to rectify the issue, or face being struck off the list.
Meanwhile, the CMA has threatened court action and even criminal prosecution against providers that refuse to adhere to rules on clear pricing and fair terms. Unlike when it finds antitrust infringements, the CMA can currently only go to court to argue its case against companies that treat their customers badly. This is anachronistic: the prospect of a drawn-out court battle over PCR tests may, with luck, provide some impetus to pass draft legislation that is intended to equip the CMA properly with consumer powers, enabling it to fine companies directly.
Ensuring fair and transparent pricing is key, but any court judgment will be some time off. The government should go further, sooner. A price cap may be anathema to a free-market Conservative government, and to a Treasury that is collecting 20 per cent VAT levied on the tests. But such a poorly functioning and unusually conceived market means that such a robust remedy should be considered. This could be in conjunction with other measures, such as the government charging travellers a flat, affordable fee and then ensuring competition by directly contracting with suppliers itself. As it is, the government has created a market in PCR provision with few safeguards for consumers, enabling a Wild West to flourish. It cannot then be surprised to find cowboys.
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