An article written by Yu Xiaodong in the January 12 edition of News China magazine, A Hundred Flowers More, notes that cultural development in China, although touted by the government on one hand, is severely limited by the other hand. The article notes that Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡锦涛) has "stressed the importance of promoting cultural development," but that the government's political control has the effect of limiting cultural development. This inconsistency has been criticized by Chinese academics as well as some famous Chinese creators such as writer/blogger Han Han ( 韩寒) and film director Feng Xiaogang (冯小刚).
Even officials from China's Ministry of Culture (MOC; 文化部) have expressed doubts about the prospects of cultural development in an environment subject to fairly strict ideological and political control. This is a bit ironic since the MOC is a part of the government that is at times responsible for limiting culture. For example, by publishing a list of banned popular music including Lady Gaga's Hair, Beyonce's Run the World and even the Backstreet Boys' I Want it That Way. The MOC directed that these and other songs containing lyrical content the MOC found objectionable be removed from Chinese websites. The only practical result of this, assuming legal music websites comply, is that the banned songs will now only be illegally downloaded in China since they are readily available through many sites in China offering music without the permission of the creators and copyright owners.
While the Chinese government wants to censor content it finds offensive, the very fact of doing so likely retards China's cultural development. While the government may have its reasons for wanting to limit the availability of some cultural content, if it is really serious about promoting cultural development, it will have to be very careful and try to limit as little as possible in order to let its 'cultural flowers' bloom. As stated by professor Yi Zhongtian of Xiamen University, "Culture is a way of life for a nation and the people. Nurturing cultural development is like nurturing a forest - you have to let it grow naturally."
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