Art Should Not be Limited

Recently in Chinese TV show, there is a frequent and weird phenomenon: lyrics of many songs have been substituted with homonyms. Here are some examples:

The lyrics was supposed to be “ I guess there was a bastard”, but it was changed to “I guess someone was flustered”.

The lyrics was supposed to be “try to be a slavery”, but it was changed to “try to make effort”.

The lyrics was “give me a bottle of wine, and give me a cigarette”, but it was changed to “give me a bottle of wine, and give me an eye”.

These are only small parts of all the songs that have been changed. Some lyrics are even not allowed to show in the subtitles. There was no official answer about why those lyrics have been censored, but the similarity between the lyrics that has been changed is that they all convey some negative messages. So, some people guessed that the reason is that those lyrics may potentially have negative impacts on teenagers. However, after changing the lyrics, the meaning of the song has changed, and the lyrics become really weird, like the example “give me an eye”.

It’s ridiculous that art like music can only convey positive messages, creating a world that only has true, kind and beautiful things. Kids should know that the world has dark sides, and overly protection may only make them more vulnerable. Also, artists create art to express their ideas about the world, but censoring the content may prevent audiences from understanding what the artists try to convey.