Guo Degang investigated over patriotic song gag in China

Chinese comedian Guo Degang is under investigation after he reportedly made a joke involving a patriotic song during a July performance in Wuhan, the city's culture and tourism bureau told AFP on Sunday.

The bureau said the investigation was ongoing, but it was unclear what stage it had reached. Local media reported that Guo, 53, allegedly improvised part of the 1956 song "Playing My Beloved Pipa", about Chinese fighters defeating Japanese soldiers in World War II.

Online outlet The Paper reported that Guo allegedly changed the lyric "quiet on Weishan Lake" to "quiet in the Forbidden City" and performed the lines with a comedic touch. The Paper said, citing Wuhan's culture bureau, that authorities had not approved the riff before the performance and were investigating suspected violations of commercial performance rules.

Guo, from Tianjin, is known for reviving the rapid comic dialogue style called crosstalk, or xiangsheng. He has performed on state broadcaster CCTV's annual Spring Festival Gala and at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Guo could not be reached on social media, and his Weibo account appeared to have been inactive since August 9. Venues in other Chinese cities have postponed performances featuring Guo this month and offered refunds.

China's authorities have tightened oversight of arts performances, including comedy shows. In 2023, authorities fined a performing group the equivalent of millions of dollars and suspended its shows indefinitely after a comic referenced a well-known army slogan while joking about dogs chasing a squirrel, which officials said had caused a bad social impact and broken the law.