It is rare (and fun) when cultural matters at home in China get caught on by the Western media. The quality of interpretations vary, but many are rather accurate. This August, there was an article in the Economist alliteratively entitled "Functionaries vs Fun: Party Poopers". It described Hu Jintao's resolve earlier to eradicate the "Three Vulgarities" from popular entertainment - "低俗、庸俗、媚俗". Before I start to attempt the impossible translation to distinguish the three, I thought it's greatly illuminating to state that the word "俗" could take the neutral meaning of traditional or/ie popular culture, or a negative connotation when prefixed with the words above: 低 = low; 庸 = mundane; 媚 = fawning/populist. In its fierce and compact style, the Economist rolled its eyes at the act of party functionaries infiltrating popular TV variety shows, presenting "politically correct entertainment". Eg, a match-making show was forbidden to talk about money being a criteria for spouse selection. (The wide contrast between the communist ideal of material minimalism and the materialistic reality of the Chinese society makes an entirely different discussion.) It's a story about censorship. What caught my attention was a brief mention of the CCTV condemnation of the crosstalk artist Guo Degang, in which incident culminated the irony of the Anti-Three Vulgarities - might I say? - Movement.
Guo Degang is known for his popular gigs, in the form of crosstalk - a fast vanishing or politicizing traditional comedic form, that are relevant to social reality and at the same time fairly funny. Those two qualities, to the understanding of most of the Chinese masses, are related - the latter results from the former; a comedian needs to be grounded in real-life materials. In early August, Guo "defended the actions of one of his pupils who beat a television reporter for arriving uninvited at Mr Guo’s home". In the official press, he was branded as being "vulgar", choosing a "江湖" (another impossible phrase: a society outside of official governance, a world where actions and interactions are more immediate, mainly a result of personal/emotional/short-term decisions) styled attitude. Among the netizens, sympathy almost entirely lies with Guo. Here're some of their comments with regards to the "branding":
"我觉得央视作为媒体，不应该带有这么严重的舆论倾向性。对某些不明真相群众会产生误导。"
"I think CCTV as a media body should not carry such serious bias towards the public opinion [it's trying to create]. This'll cause misunderstanding to people who don't know the truth."
"老郭这下栽了吧，和央视斗，地产商都不行，你能行，真是的"
"Old Mr Guo, now you taste defeat. Want to fight with CCTV? Even real estate companies can't. You thought you could??" (sarcasm implied)
Furthermore, comparison in the degree of "vulgarity" has once been drawn between Guo and Xiao Shenyang in a pretty decent Chinese article (which since I haven't been able to find again on the internet). Xiao Shenyang has a feminine stage persona, dresses in drag and constantly tells jokes with sexual connotations - performances that more than a few would describe as being truly vulgar. However, he has appeared on the official Chinese New Year televised show for two years now, garnering obvious official support, allegedly due to his steering clear of politically sensitive contents. This is not to say he doesn't enjoy popular support. After all, "俗" could be popular or vulgar. The line, as many others in China, could be rather arbitrary.
Incidentally, the Newsweek feature of Xiao Shenyang drew comments defending the comedian, mainly out of against-Western-media anger. What do the Chinese people really think? Who's really vulgar? Who should we "anti" (反)?
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