Chinese comedian Guo Degang investigated after patriotic song gag

A famous Chinese comedian is under investigation, local authorities told AFP on Sunday, after he reportedly poked fun at a patriotic song during a performance.

Chinese comedian Guo Degang. Photo: Kai Tak Sports Park.

The ruling Communist Party maintains tight control over China’s arts scene, and the government has enacted laws in recent years to protect national heroes and symbols from purported slander.

Guo Degang, 53, allegedly improvised part of a 1956 tune about Chinese fighters defeating Japanese soldiers in World War II during a performance in the central city of Wuhan in July, according to local media reports.

The Wuhan culture and tourism bureau confirmed by phone to AFP on Sunday that an investigation into Guo was ongoing, but it was not clear what stage it had reached.

Guo, from the northern city of Tianjin, is known for reviving a style of rapid comic dialogue called crosstalk — “xiangsheng” in Chinese — during the 2000s and 2010s.

He has performed on state broadcaster CCTV’s annual Spring Festival Gala and at the Great Hall of the People, a grand government building in Beijing that hosts major state events.

Guo was unable to be reached on social media, and his Weibo account seems to have been inactive since August 9.

The Great Hall of People in China. Photo: Mirko Kuzmanovic, via Shutterstock.

Venues in other Chinese cities have postponed perfomances featuring Guo this month and have been offering refunds.

The song, “Playing My Beloved Pipa”, was recognised in 2019 as an “outstanding” song celebrating the founding of The People’s Republic of China, online outlet The Paper reported this month.

In one instance, Guo allegedly changed the lyric, “quiet on Weishan Lake”, to “quiet in the Forbidden City” — China’s former seat of imperial power — and performed the lines with a “comedic” touch, the report said.

Authorities had not approved his riff before the performance, The Paper said, citing Wuhan’s culture bureau.

It reported that local authorities were investigating Guo for “suspected violations” of rules on commercial performances.

Under President Xi Jinping, authorities have tightened their oversight of arts performances, including comedy shows.

In 2023, authorities fined a performing group the equivalent of millions of dollars and suspended their shows indefinitely after a comic made an oblique joke about the armed forces.

Li Haoshi referenced a well-known army slogan while joking about watching his dogs chase a squirrel — which officials said had “caused a bad social impact” and broken the law.