Li Zhi (born November 13, 1978) is a mainland Chinese music artist who was banned from People's Republic of China in April 2019. According to the China Daily newspaper published in 2015, Li was a music artist who sold out his concert tickets quickly. His 2014 New Year concert I/O sold out all 3,600 tickets in 13 minutes.[citation needed]
Li Zhi | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Li performing in 2018 | |||||||
| Born | November 13, 1978 | ||||||
| Occupation | Singer | ||||||
| Years active | 1995–2019 | ||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 李志 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 李志 | ||||||
| |||||||
Early life and career
editLi was born to a rural family. He became a professional singer in 1995. Before 2018, Li had not signed with any studios. He also restrained from getting himself involved in TV shows and popular media. On October 23, 2018, Taihe Music's Weibo official account announced that Li Zhi will be partnering.[1]
Defender of Artists' Copyright
editLi is known as a defender of artists' copyright. He had filed lawsuits against music platforms Xiami Music and Kuwo Music. In 2017, Li publicly accused the Chinese version of TV show Roast (produced by Tencent) of using his song without permission. In 2018, Li filed lawsuits accusing the Tencent Video-produced show The Coming One violating his copyrights when Li's music was used in the program without his legal approval. Li asked for 3 million yuan in compensation.[2] The court agreed with the copyright infringement. However, the TV show did not apologize for the copyright violation and Li was compensated with an amount below what was expected.
334 Tour
edit"334 Tour" or "334 Plan" was a plan that Li will tour to 334 cities in 12 years and perform his music live from 2017-2029. It was announced February 20, 2019. Two days later, February 22, 2019, Li Zhi's team officially announced that the Sichuan tour was canceled due to Li Zhi's health situation. the night before his first concert, Li posted on Weibo a photo of his medical wristband saying that he had to cancel his performance due to medical conditions. 18,000 of Li's tour tickets were refunded. Li's social media accounts were taken down, and streaming sites removed his music before he disappeared from the public eye as June 4, 2019 approached.[3]
Banned from People's Republic of China
edit- Li made references to June 4, 1989 (1989 Tiananmen Square protests) and Tiananmen Square in his songs.
- According to The Paper's report on April 4, the Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism announced that, due to "misbehavior," the government had called off "an unnamed famous singer's planned tour of 23 concerts" in the province.[4]
- Li's artist's tour was cancelled and his social media accounts including Weibo were blocked. His music was removed from all platforms in China. Key words associated with Li are also blocked from the public view.[5]
- A Chinese central government directive ordered all social media websites delete audio or video content relating to five of Li's songs.[6]
| Album | Year | Number of Songs in Album |
|---|---|---|
| 被禁忌的游戏
(The Forbidden Game) |
2004 | 9 |
| 梵高先生
(Mr. Van Gogh) |
2005 | 9 |
| 这个世界会好吗
(Has Man a Future) |
2006 | 10 |
| 我爱南京
(In Love with Nanjing) |
2009 | 9 + 7 |
| 你好，郑州
(Hello Zhengzhou) |
2010 | 10 |
| F | 2011 | 9 |
| 1701 | 2014 | 8 |
| 8 | 2016 | 9 |
| 在每一条伤心的应天大街上
(Through Every Sad Street) |
2016 | 8 |
| 这个世界会好吗 (2015 版本)
(Has Man a Future (2015 Version)) |
2015 | 1 |
| 工体东路没有人
(No One out on the Street) |
2009 | 16 |
| 108个关键词
(108 Keywords) |
2013 | 7 + 9 |
| 勾三搭四
(Three and Four) |
2014 | 11 + 10 |
| i/O | 2015 | 11 |
| 看见
(Seen) |
2015 | 10 |
| 动静
(Square) |
2016 | 11 |
| 李志北京不插电现场 2016.5.29
(Lizhi Unplugged Live in Beijing) |
2016 | 12 |
| 李志、电声与管弦乐
(Lizhi, Band and Orchestra) |
2017 | 12 |
| 爵士乐与不插电新编12首
(Li-Zhi Jazz and Unplugged 12 Songs) |
2018 | 12 |
| 李志、电声与管弦乐II
(Li-Zhi Band and Orchestra II) |
2018 | 9 |
References
edit- ^ "A New Chapter of Li Zhi". chinamusicbusinessnews.com (in Chinese (China)). Retrieved 2020-01-31.
- ^ Amar, Nathanel. "What's Happening with Li Zhi (and Cui Jian)? An Update on Online Music Censorship and Chinese Rock". Scream For Life (in French). Retrieved 2020-01-31.
- ^ "Singer disappears as China tightens grip ahead of Tiananmen anniversary". South China Morning Post. 2019-06-02. Retrieved 2023-12-09.
- ^ "Where is Li Zhi? Outspoken Folk Musician Seemingly Scrubbed from Internet". RADII | Culture, Innovation, and Life in today's China. 2019-04-14. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
- ^ "Singer disappears as China tightens grip ahead of Tiananmen anniversary". South China Morning Post. 2019-06-02. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
- ^ Beach, Sophie (2019-04-21). "Minitrue: Delete Songs, Documentaries, Trailers". China Digital Times. Retrieved 2021-12-19.