Lady Gaga，Katy Perry,“因太粗俗”無緣中國

Chinese censors are once again waging war on pop music. But their criteria for banning songs show little understanding of the art form.
中國再次整治流行音樂市場，而就從被禁音樂來看，暴露出文化部對於這類的藝術形式不甚瞭解。

Pity the poor censors at the Chinese ministry of culture, for they have set themselves a Sisyphean task. Two years ago, amid a wider crackdown on illegal downloading, the ministry vowed to keep "poor taste and vulgar content" from the ears of the nation's youth. This week it handed music websites its latest blacklist of 100 pernicious songs. Unless the record labels submit the songs for official approval, the sites have until 15 September to remove tracks by Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and several Asian artists.
中國文化部門那些可憐的評審員們，他們給自己安排了一個不可能完成的任務.兩年前文化部展開了一場大範圍整治非法下載的活動，誓言要使青少年遠離“品味低下內容粗俗“歌曲的塗毒.這個星期，文化部對這些音樂門戶網站公佈了最新100首黑名單歌曲，除非這些專輯得到官方批准，那麼這些網站就必須在9.15前刪除lady gaga,katy perry和其它幾位亞洲歌手的歌曲連接。

Like any authoritarian regime, China has a history of censoring songs with political content. In May, the government banned a Mongolian hip-hop protest song and arrested the rapper behind it. Last year Tibetan singer Tashi Dhondup spent 10 months in prison for recording "subversive songs". And Guns N' Roses' 2008 album Chinese Democracy was banned for somewhat obvious reasons. In comparison, the 2009 directive is a recipe for absurdity.
像其它任何獨裁政府一樣，中國也有一段時期會因歌曲帶有政治內容而進行監管.五月份的時候，中國政府禁止一首蒙古hip-pop抗議歌曲，並逮捕了那位饒舌歌手.去年，西藏歌手扎西頓珠因涉嫌錄製"反動歌曲"被判了10個月.同時歐洲樂隊Guns N'Roses 2008專輯- Chinese Democracy （中國式民主），顯而易見也在中國被禁.那麼相比之下，2009年的指令是那麼荒謬可笑。

Pop music censorship tends to be unwittingly comical because censors show so little understanding of the art form. For every song that is banned, hundreds more explicit ones go unmolested. The accusation of "poor taste and vulgar content" has been levelled at rock'n'roll since its inception – Jerry Lee Lewis wasn't singing about actual balls of fire, you know – and a war on innuendo is a war that is doomed to failure.
正因爲審查員們並不瞭解這些藝術形貌使的流行音樂審查制度無形間變得很滑稽.上百首比那些所被禁的歌曲更露骨大膽的歌卻大行其道y lee lewis的歌在剛開始的時就被定性爲“品味低下內容粗俗”的搖滾樂--但大家知道，他並不是真的在唱那些性感舞會的歌曲--因此這場以含沙射影而開場戰爭必然以失敗收場。

Even by its own expansive criteria, the Chinese blacklist defies logic. Why, for example, target six songs from Lady Gaga's Born This Way album yet not the title track's LGBT anthem? You can see why the censors might balk at Katy Perry's Last Friday Night (TGIF) , which rhymes "streaking in the park" with "ménage a trois", or Canadian punk-pop band Simple Plan's frankly dreadful You Suck at Love ("You were such an awesome fuck"). But if the Chinese censors have never heard anything more outrageous than Minnesotan milquetoast Owl City's Plant Life ("Your spirit is sweet so pull off your sheet") or the Backstreet Boys' vanilla 1999 hit I Want It That Way ("You are my fire/The one desire") then they must live miraculously sheltered lives and they're in for a hair-rising time once they discover Nicki Minaj.
即使是中國對歌曲標準有所提升，但仍有違常理.爲什麼呢？就拿lady gaga《Born This Way》（天生如此）這張專輯裏的六首歌來說，而他們卻忽略了此專輯就是爲男女同性戀，變性和雙性戀所創作？從這你就可以看出爲什麼審查會禁Katy Perry的Last Friday Night,(萬幸今天是周5）其中歌曲唱到“拖家帶口和情人在公園裏裸奔”，又如加拿大的朋克流行樂隊Simple Plan那直白可怕的 You Suck at Love（ 你的牀技真是TMD好）。但如果中國審查員們還沒聽過比明尼蘇達州那唱着膽小鬼的Owl City樂隊的這首Plant Life更嚇人的歌（你的靈魂如此美好就大膽的展現自我吧），又或者再看看backstreet Boy 1999年的熱歌I Want It That Way(那纔是我要的方式）（“你是我生命的火，是我的唯一，慾望），那他們一定過着相當太平的生活，而當歌手Nicki Minaj出道時他們又得開始忙活了。

But this risible detour isn't the censorship that matters. Amusing though it is to see a regime getting flustered about a 12-year-old Backstreet Boys song, China's real war on free speech, as Tashi Dondhup and the Mongolian rapper can testify, is no joke.
不過評審員並不在意這個可笑的小插曲.雖然看到一個制度被一個才發行了12年的Backstreet Boys歌所折騰的一團亂很另人搞笑，從歌手扎西頓珠和那個蒙古饒舌歌手身上就能證明，中國真正的用意卻是在自由言論上，並且他們是來真的。