Bob Dylan: China Did Not Censor Me

                                by Eyder Peralt, m.npr.org
May 13th 2011                                                                   
                                                                                
                                                                                
                         

AFP/Getty Images

                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                

Ever since Bob Dylan performed in China last month, he's gotten a ton of flak. 
At the time, Reuters reported that the the Chinese cultural ministry allowed 
Dylan to perform "approved content," and that Dylan "did not sing anything that 
might have overtly offended China's Communist rulers, like The Times They Are 
A-Changin'."

                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                        

The New York Times' Maureen Dowd took him to task for not mentioning the 
detention of artist Ai Weiwei. "Dylan said nothing about Weiwei's detention, 
didn't offer a reprise of 'Hurricane,' his song about 'the man the authorities 
came to blame for something that he never done.' He sang his censored set, took 
his pile of Communist cash and left," wrote Dowd. She said Dylan was "a new 
kind of sellout."

                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                        

Today, the usually reclusive Dylan, released an unusual statement on his 
website. First he said Mojo magazine was wrong. Young Chinese people went to 
his concert, he said, not just old ex-pats. And he wasn't censored, he said:

                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                

As far as censorship goes, the Chinese government had asked for the names of 
the songs that I would be playing. There's no logical answer to that, so we 
sent them the set lists from the previous 3 months. If there were any songs, 
verses or lines censored, nobody ever told me about it and we played all the 
songs that we intended to play.

                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                        

[Copyright 2011 National Public Radio]

                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                
                                                                                

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