Renowned Chinese crosstalk actor and co-founder of Dedun Society, Guo Degang’s three scheduled performances in Yantai, Shandong from August 20th to 22nd have all been postponed. This comes after the cancellation of the Xi’an performance, making it the second delayed show on the tour. Last month, Guo Degang improvised a revision of a revolutionary song lyric during a performance in Wuhan, which led to a report being filed against him and an investigation initiated.
According to information obtained from the entertainment ticketing platform “Damai.com” by “The Paper,” on August 19th, the organizer, Leading Horizon Cultural Co. Ltd. (Tianjin), issued three notices of performance postponement.
The announcement stated that due to venue reasons, after consultation between the organizer and the theater, the two scheduled performances in Yantai – the Kunlun Drama Society’s 10th-anniversary tour performance on August 20th and 21st at the Fenghuang Jiaodong Theater, as well as the Dedun Society’s 30th-anniversary series performance “Guo Degang and Yu Qian Crosstalk Special” on August 22nd at the Yantai Bajiaowan International Convention and Exhibition Center – have all been postponed. The new performance dates will be notified separately.
All purchased ticket orders for the three performances will be fully refunded without handling fees, and audience members do not need to apply for refunds themselves.
Earlier on August 14th, the Kunlun Drama Society’s 10th-anniversary tour performance scheduled to take place on August 15th at the Xi’an Chanba Poly Grand Theater was canceled.
During a performance of the Beijing opera “Jigong Living Buddha” at the Kunlun Drama Society in Wuhan on July 24th, Guo Degang humorously altered the lyrics of the song “Play My Beloved Pipa” from the revolutionary film “The Railroad Guerrillas,” changing the original lyric “quietly on Weishan Lake” to “quietly in the Forbidden City.” This impromptu change was reported by someone, causing widespread attention from the public.
Recently, former Shanghai entrepreneur Hu Li Ren mentioned in a self-media program that “news has come from China that Guo Degang has been placed under control, and all operations of Dedun Society have been suspended; authorities also intend to audit his accounts.”
He believes that “the arrest of Guo Degang is not an isolated case but the beginning of a campaign,” calling it the “start of the Communist Party’s Cultural Revolution movement.” He predicts that the entire Chinese artistic community will face systematic scrutiny. “Works that were previously available on the internet are now being reviewed for political correctness.”
Regarding the specific methods, Hu Li Ren stated, “If the Communist Party wants to target you, it’s simple, they look into your accounts. Checking on your accounts is a way to capture you. With any excuse, they can detain you, then issue you a tax bill, and the Communist Party can make you lose everything you own.”