Entertainers pressured to support Xi Jinping's crackdown on 'social ills'
Maoist morality may be making a comeback, if the president has his way, and sinning celebrities are under pressure
Communist Party leaders have grown used to launching campaigns against political enemies or anything they perceive to be social ills.
Since he came to power in late 2012, President Xi Jinping has overseen a series of such crackdowns, against prostitution, pornography, gambling, terrorism, official extravagance and corruption. More recently, the country has been waging a significant war against drugs.
In a written statement released on the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on June 26, Xi called for "forceful action to wipe out drugs from Chinese society". He also said offenders would be punished severely.
The campaign has targeted the social elite and influential people, with several celebrities falling afoul of the campaign. At least 11 Chinese celebrities from the mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong have been detained for drug-related offences.
Among the latest are superstar Jackie Chan's son, Jaycee Chan, and Taiwanese actor Ko Chen-tung, also known as Kai Ko. Their detention by Beijing police on Monday came just a few days after actor Gao Hu was detained. State broadcaster China Central Television aired footage of a police raid on Jaycee Chan's home in Beijing and the interrogation of Chan and Ko.
The intensified campaign is part of Xi's effort to clean up society and impose Maoist moral standards. Social evils such as prostitution, gambling and illegal drugs have all made a comeback after the loosening of social controls amid market reforms implemented in the past 30 years. They had been virtually eradicated after the 1949 Communist revolution. Illegal drug use in particular ballooned as a result of rising wealth and greater personal freedoms.
The government has adopted a zero-tolerance approach to illegal substances with the institution of harsh punishment for drug-related crimes, as they see drug use as a form of moral corruption that is damaging to society. Drug smugglers can face the death sentence.