China's art scene has always been censored by the Communist Party, but under President Xi Jinping's decade, authorities stepped up surveillance. Last week, authorities fined production company Xiaoguo Culture Media nearly two million euros and suspended its shows.
A comedian's joke about the People's Liberation Army (PLA) was deemed inappropriate. The sanction reflects the fact that "the margin of tolerance of the authorities regarding non-conformist speech is even smaller," said Vivienne Shue, an expert on contemporary China.