China Bans Bob Dylan Concerts

(April 5) -- Not everyone wants the times to be a-changin' in China.

Chinese officials will not allow Bob Dylan to hold concerts in Beijing and Shanghai, apparently because of the rebellious lyrics that helped make the singer a '60s icon. Over the weekend, Dylan canceled the entire Asian leg of his tour.

Dylan's promoter in Asia, Brokers Brothers Herald, told Hong Kong's South China Morning Post that "China's Ministry of Culture did not give us permission to stage concerts in Beijing and Shanghai, so we had no alternative [but] to scrap plans for a Southeast Asian tour." Brokers Brothers' Jeffrey Wu said the "chance to play in China was the main attraction" for Dylan.

Kevin Winter, Getty Images

Bob Dylan performs on June 11, 2009, in Culver City, Calif.

The quirky Icelandic singer Bjork may have set the stage for Dylan's banning. During a 2008 performance in Shanghai, Bjork called out, "Tibet! Tibet!" while singing a song titled "Declare Independence." Since then, some say Chinese officials have been increasingly wary of Western performers.

"Those who used to take part in activities that harm our nation's sovereignty are firmly not allowed to perform in China," the Ministry of Culture said after the Bjork incident.

"What Bjork did definitely made life very difficult for other performers," Wu said.

In 2009, for example, China is thought to have banned the English group Oasis from performing, after officials discovered that a band member had appeared at a 1997 Free Tibet benefit concert in New York. But according to Chinese officials, the promoter's financial problems were the issue, not censorship.

In the West, some music critics say Dylan's anti-establishment credentials have been lacking in recent years, and they believe China had nothing to worry about. London's Guardian newspaper, for example, laments the singer's lack of controversy these days.

"Don't the Chinese know that these days the 68-year-old former protest singer is a respectable golfer who released a Christmas album last year and has even allowed 'Blowin' in the Wind' to be used as the soundtrack of a TV commercial?" the paper asked.