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A Chinese blogger has been sent to jail for five days for botching the national anthem live on air.
Yang Kaili, a 21-year-old online star who rose to fame covering pop songs, was given five days of “administrative detention” for “disrespecting” the national anthem.
She wobbled her way through the first line while wearing furry moose ears and waving her arms around during a live stream.
The segment appears to have been broadcast to her two million followers on the Huya app. Though it lasted just ten seconds, it was enough to have violated China’s new national anthem law, which came into effect last year.
It prohibits playing or singing the March of the Volunteers in a “distorted or disrespectful way in public".
According to the Washington Post, the police stood by their decision, and in a social announcement said:
The national anthem is an embodiment and symbol of our country, and all citizens and organisations should respect and defend the honour of the anthem.
Live-streaming webcast is not lawless territory and users should obey the law and uphold moral standards.
The police will resolutely crack down on such behaviours that challenge the legal bottom line or public order and good social morals, in order to purify the internet’s public sphere.
This is the first time a high-profile individual has been jailed by enforcing the anthem law.
In 2016, a Beijing historian was prosecuted for questioning the veracity of a textbook series about the Communist Party’s wartime heroes.
China is known for its draconian laws curtailing freedom of expression.
More: This statue was defaced with googly eyes - and police are furious about it
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