From music to online games, via reality TV and private lessons, China has been trying in recent months to regain control of its youth and to impose virile values, as opposed to a moral decadence that would come from abroad .
It is up to football to pay the price at the end of the year. The Chinese Ministry of Sports has just banned tattoos for national team players and urged those who have them to “remove” them. “In the event of special circumstances […] tattoos must be covered “during training and competitions, the ministry said in a statement, which prohibits the recruitment of any tattooed athlete.
Ban “effeminate” men and “vulgar influencers”
The Chinese audiovisual regulator has thus called in recent months to establish “correct” beauty criteria and to ban “effeminate” men and “vulgar influencers”. Also in the viewfinder, the “vulgar” content broadcast on the small screen and social networks, called to privilege rather “patriotic” values rather than those of hip-hop culture in particular.
Tattoos are generally frowned upon in China, which remains overwhelmingly a conservative society. But they have some success in big cities especially with the younger generation. The measure is variously appreciated by football fans. “Should we choose a good player or a saint?” “, Wondered a supporter on the social network Weibo.
This is not the first time that aesthetics are invited in Chinese football. In recent years, the Federation has already ordered players to cover their tattoos during matches. In Japan too, these inscriptions, associated with the mafias, are generally proscribed in the name of tradition.
Football legend David Beckham appeared blurry last year in a Chinese public television documentary. A women’s college football match was also canceled last year … following a ban on players dyeing their hair.
“China’s Clampdown on Free Expression: The Banning of Tattoos for National Football Players and the Rise of Patriotic Purism.”
A recent directive from the Chinese Ministry of Sports, prohibiting national football team players from having tattoos and mandating the removal of existing ones, is the latest in a string of measures aimed at imposing a cultural agenda of patriotic values on Chinese youth. This phenomenon, embedded in the Chinese government’s ambition to regain control and suppress “effeminate” tendencies, threatens to further curtail the country’s rapidly shrinking space for individual expression.
On one hand, the restriction may appear laughable at first, a seemingly innocuous decree from a repressive government attempting to police its citizens’ bodies. Yet, beneath the façade lies a more sinister reality – one in which authorities seek to regulate the minutest of personal details, repressing even the faintest hint of perceived nonconformity. Football, once a globally revered symbol of talent, teamwork, and athleticism, is now submerged under an edict proclaiming the sacred virtues of conformity.
This phenomenon mirrors a broader campaign of control orchestrated by the Chinese government, extending far beyond sports. Reality television shows are to abide by “correct” beauty standards; people sporting ‘effeminate’ images are being curbed or altogether expelled from the airwaves and online. Social media influencers are co-opted, pressured to produce ‘patriotic’ content as a preferred substitute for any form of entertainment that is popular globally.
In keeping pace with an overwhelming culture of authority worship, Chinese citizens are witnessing institutions enforcing archaic rules reminiscent of its own troubled past as part and parcel of the governmental machinery. China had to navigate difficult socio-cultural contradictions as the world took to adopting an increasingly more global mindset that undermined the once widespread perception that societal cohesion relies on an atmosphere of stringent government controls.
The rise of urban cities is serving to be an enduring symbol of this dual China in which conservative patterns clash with increasingly liberal inclinations. A small ray of hope for Chinese resistance rests on these generational movements that are emboldening it.
Ultimately, this move stands to deepen our understanding of the profound consequences China faces as one vying power. Whether China succeeds in casting an old narrative is rather uncertain but this, combined with actions that have thus far led it to an ascendant rise on the global map – adds to a China future, which we look back at now with some bemusement rather than horror.
