Jacky Cheung song banned on Chinese music streaming sites

Following a posts by a Chinese netizen on Weibo, Hong Kong singer Jacky Cheung’s 1995 song, ‘Ren Jian Dao’, has been pulled from all music streaming services in China, including Apple Music. 

Netizens have since pointed out that while ‘Ren Jian Dao’ is not available on Apple Music in China, it still can be found on the music streaming platform in Taiwan, Hong Kong and the USA.

The netizen who had written the initial post had shared that the lyrics of the song seemed to be referring to the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. Any mention of the 1989 massacre is prohibited in China, be it online or offline. Posts mentioning it are promptly deleted by the country’s censors.

​‘Ren Jian Dao’ was the theme song of the 1990 movie, A Chinese Ghost Story II, and was also included in Jacky’s 1989 album, 'Meng Zhong De Ni’.

The song was written by Hong Kong lyricist, James Wong, after the Tiananmen Square Massacre. James had mentioned that both A Chinese Ghost Story II, which was filmed after the massacre, and ‘Ren Jian Dao’ contained a number of political implications. 

With ‘Ren Jian Dao’ containing lyrics like “the youths are angered (and) the heavens, demons and gods are crying”, as well as “how has the vast earth of the olden days become a torrential sea of blood”, and “the way to one’s hometown, why is it no longer the way back (home)”, many saw it as a commentary on the massacre.