Only a few months after China was ripped for having a nine-year-old lip synch a song during the Olympic opening ceremonies, the Ministry of Culture is declaring war on the art of pretending to sing music that is actually being played on the sound system.

A law is in the works, but the ministry said that it wants to seek public opinion before it begins enforcement. The "public opinion" stage is a mere formality. The parliament passes nearly all laws that are sent its way. A draft of the law states: "Performers must not cheat audiences by lip-synching, and concert organizers must not arrange for performers to lip-synch." Two time offenders will be forced to relinquish their performer's license for a two year period. First time synchers will merely be smeared by the Ministry of Culture.

Is all this just too ironic? No really. The Olympic lip synching incident was a major loss of face for Beijing. Cracking down is a way to regain some of their respect. Unfortunately, the impending law means that all that awful, awful Mandopop will become even more unbearable because there will be no studio-perfected soundtrack to keep us from hearing a pop star's real voice.

Filed under: China, News