Beijing Watch: Guo Degang in Hot Water! Investigated Over 'The Forbidden City is Quiet' Lyric Change During Wuhan Performance — Where Exactly Was the Red Line Crossed?

It has been half a year, and Guo Degang, the famous Chinese xiangsheng (crosstalk) performer and head of Deyunshe, is in trouble again. This time, it's not about a comedy routine or internal disputes within Deyunshe, but an impromptu lyrical change during a Peking Opera performance of 'Ji Gong the Living Buddha' in Wuhan.

On July 24, during a performance at Wuhan People's Art Theatre's Zhongnan Theatre, Guo Degang borrowed the melody from the well-known revolutionary film 'Railway Guerrillas' insert song 'Strike Up My Beloved Pipa,' changing the original line 'The Weishan Lake is Quiet' to 'The Forbidden City is Quiet,' and added satirical lyrics such as 'Oh Buddha, Oh Tathagata, Mamamimihong.'

Chinese renowned xiangsheng performer Guo Degang performed a revised version of the revolutionary song 'Strike Up My Beloved Pipa' during a Peking Opera 'Ji Gong the Living Buddha' performance in Wuhan, Hubei Province, on July 24. (Source: Deyunshe YouTube Channel)

After the video circulated online, some Chinese citizens reported it, questioning whether such a parody distorted or mocked revolutionary classics, and raised concerns about public order, morality, and copyright issues.

On August 11, the Wuhan Culture and Tourism Bureau of Hubei Province responded, stating that the improvised alteration did not appear in the submitted performance registration materials and was suspected of violating the 'Regulations on the Administration of Commercial Performances.' The bureau has since initiated a formal investigation. Officials also stated they will verify licensing issues related to the performance and song.

China is now facing a conflict between live entertainment and regulatory red lines. At the end of 2025, Guo Degang and Yu Qian performed the xiangsheng piece 'The Skilled Are Cautious' in Beijing. Some content drew audience complaints, prompting the Xicheng District Culture and Tourism Bureau to summon the organizers, demanding script revisions and banning the reuse of lines likely to trigger negative public opinion. After the incident, a satirical phrase spread among Chinese netizens: 'Xiangsheng performers can now only recite textbooks.'

What red line did the phrase 'The Forbidden City is Quiet' actually cross?

'Strike Up My Beloved Pipa' is not an ordinary pop song. It is a famous insert song from the film 'Railway Guerrillas,' closely tied to China's revolutionary historical narrative, and thus carries special cultural and political symbolism.

When Guo Degang changed 'The Weishan Lake is Quiet' to 'The Forbidden City is Quiet,' some netizens naturally perceived it as making fun of revolutionary classics. Especially when combined with religious parody lyrics, the performance gained political and cultural interpretations far beyond mere entertainment.

Meanwhile, the Peking Opera 'Ji Gong the Living Buddha' itself is a traditional piece with folk satirical elements, and Guo Degang's stage style has always been known for 'xian gua' (improvisation). From a purely performative perspective, changing lyrics and mixing vocabularies may not indicate a political stance but could simply be for comedic effect.

The crux of the matter is that while audiences debate whether this constitutes desecration, the authorities are focusing on whether the change was pre-registered.

A view of Beijing's Forbidden City. (Reuters)

Last time, they were told to 'revise the script'; this time, it's 'not registered.'

In the Beijing 'The Skilled Are Cautious' incident, the issue was that even though content was pre-registered, specific on-stage expressions were still required to be revised due to audience complaints. The Wuhan 'Ji Gong the Living Buddha' incident goes further: the content Guo Degang added on the spot was entirely absent from the original registration materials.

Currently, the official stance from Wuhan's cultural authorities is not that Guo Degang's lyrical change is inherently illegal, but that the improvisation was not included in the pre-submitted registration documents, thus suspected of violating commercial performance regulations, leading to the investigation.

When a reporter called the Wuhan Culture and Tourism Bureau on the afternoon of the 14th for comment, a staff member stated that further announcements would follow and declined media interviews for now. Interestingly, this latest report against Guo Degang has sparked backlash from some fans, who openly call the 'reporters' mentally ill.

For xiangsheng, comedy, and traditional opera performers, improvisation is part of the vitality of live performance. Audiences come to see Guo Degang not just to hear a pre-written script.

But from a regulatory standpoint, if a performance requires approval and registration, then 'suddenly adding a segment on stage' may no longer be seen as artistic creation but as a change in performance content.

'Reciting textbooks' is not just a joke—it reflects cultural anxiety in China.

Following Deyunshe's previous performance penalty in Beijing, the public used 'reciting textbooks' to subtly criticize the government's strict cultural oversight. Chinese media also labeled Guo Degang's act as 'non-compliant.' Shanghai's party-affiliated media 'The Paper' commented: 'What “Strike Up My Beloved Pipa” carries is not just melody, but a collective story of sacrifice, perseverance, and victory. When “The Weishan Lake is Quiet” becomes a punchline, it touches not just a lyric, but decades of carefully maintained solemnity.'

A script instructor from a state-owned arts troupe in Beijing said in an interview: 'If an actor must say every word exactly as pre-approved, risks are certainly reduced, but the spontaneity of xiangsheng will also diminish.'

According to the reporter's observations, Guo Degang's performance style heavily relies on his improvisational banter with Yu Qian, reading audience reactions, and reorganizing jokes based on the day's atmosphere.

Some mainland readers asked: Is 'The Forbidden City is Quiet' just a joke, or is it implying something? Only the cultural authorities can decide—and this reflects a 'one-size-fits-all' regulatory approach.

At the same time, even if the investigation confirms procedural violations in registration, it does not automatically mean the authorities have deemed the phrase 'The Forbidden City is Quiet' itself illegal.

Guo Degang's xiangsheng performance was reported. / Screenshot from Chinese social media 'Douyin'

What Guo Degang is truly facing may not be a single song, but an entire system of rules.

Xiangsheng, as a long-standing form of fast-talking, popular cultural activity in China, was widely used by the Chinese Communist Party during the War of Resistance and the Civil War to spread revolutionary ideas in enemy-occupied areas. At that time, such performances were banned by the Nationalist government. But times have changed, and the rules have not—leaving many young people who love traditional culture confused: What content is safe to perform?

For performers, if the stage is limited to pre-approved content, performances risk becoming mere 'following the script.' For audiences, a major reason they buy tickets is precisely to see things beyond the script.

Across Chinese social media, Guo Degang's 'The Forbidden City is Quiet' has become symbolic. Some Chinese netizens believe 'it may not be such a shocking line, and from a purely comedic perspective, it might just be a few seconds of comedic relief.'

Mao Zedong's 'Let a Hundred Flowers Bloom, Let a Hundred Schools of Thought Contend' policy is now facing a turning point. If improvisation must be pre-registered, and spontaneous creation subjected to procedural review, how much artistic freedom remains on stage? Not even the performers themselves can say for sure.