Chinese government fines comedy company over $2m for military joke

Shanghai: The Chinese government on Wednesday fined Shanghai Xiaoguo Culture Media Co 14.7 million yuan ($2.3 million) for a military joke. One of the best comedy companies in the country was accused of "harming society".

The joke was made by one of its comedians and the incident was widely criticised by the public. But, the public is also strongly divided on what is considered appropriate for a joke. Stand-up comedy has been gaining popularity in China but the government insists that the social values of the country must be promoted.

The Beijing arm of China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism Bureau said it will fine the company 13.35 million yuan and confiscate 1.35 million yuan in "illegal gains" from the firm after finding that a recent show by Li Haoshi, who performs under the name House, had breached rules. "We will never allow any company or individual use the Chinese capital as a stage to wantonly slander the glorious image of the PLA. Xiaoguo Culture would be barred from staging any future shows in Beijing."

Earlier this week, Li was doing a live show in Beijing. One of the audience members posted about a joke he made and described it as demeaning to China's People's Liberation Army (PLA). He spoke about seeing two stray dogs he adopted chasing a squirrel. He added that it reminded him of the phrase "have a good work style, be able to fight and win battles". It is a slogan Chinese President Xi Jinping used in 2013 in regard to his party's work ethic.

Xiaoguo Culture said it had terminated Li's contract and blamed the incident on "major loopholes in management." Social media platform Weibo also seems to have banned him from posting.