Taiwan media uncovers list of artists banned by China’s Ministry of Culture – King Ly Chee on list

News making the rounds here in Hong Kong is that an official blacklist from the Ministry of Culture in China was obtained by Taiwan’s Apple newspaper. On the list of names that were exposed is Hong Kong hardcore band King Ly Chee.

When approached by a few local Hong Kong media for a quote, vocalist Riz had the following to say:

“This isn’t news. We’ve known since 2004 that we’ve been put on a blacklist in China by the Ministry of Culture. Has this impacted our development in China? Of course it has. Every year we receive several invitations by massive music festivals in China, and let’s be honest – China has some money so these invitations have always come with very attractive guarantees. Each and every time we agree to perform, the festival organizers return a few weeks later to let us know that we have been refused permission to perform by the government. In 2014 we signed to a pretty large indie record label in China, but once they found out that we would rarely get permission to play festivals (of which from our guarantee they were going to receive a hefty percentage), they decided to end the contract.

It’s been a pain in the ass for the past 12 years (prior to ’04 we weren’t really part of any festival circuit in China). The weirdest part is that within these 12 years there have been a handful of festivals who have been able to figure out a way for us to perform. But no one knows how or why we were able to play those festivals.

So no, this piece of news is not shocking to us.

What is annoying though is that on this list they have our full names listed, not just our band name, so we’re hoping this is not going to impact whenever we travel up into China with family and friends. Also, the drummer that they have listed is not even a member of the band – he was a friend that was helping us out for about a year or so. So this poor guy is stuck on a blacklist for no reason at all. We feel horrible for him…hopefully he hasn’t gotten any trouble by being associated with us.”

Here’s the full article in Chinese with the complete list of 55 names that have been exposed:

http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/realtime/china/20161230/56109922

Photo credit: Rich Zoeller