What Gets Reviewed

Chinese platforms evaluate a release as a complete package: the audio recording, lyrics, translation, title, cover art, music video, lyric video, visualizer, short-form videos, artist bio, and metadata. Even if the track itself is neutral, issues can arise from the cover art, translation, or artist description.

Eight Risk Categories

1. Politics and National Security Anything touching China's territorial integrity, separatism, state symbols, or the official position on Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tibet, or Macau carries high risk. Check not just the lyrics but also maps, flags, and slogans in videos and cover art, and the wording in bios.

2. National Symbols and Historical Memory Insulting the state, military, or national heroes; using sensitive historical events as shock content or parody — all carry a risk of rejection.

3. Religion and Extremism Religious extremism, cult propaganda, occultism presented as a practical guide, mockery of religious groups. A neutral religious reference is not a problem. An aggressive, provocative, or extremist framing is.

4. Violence, Terrorism, Crime Glorification of terrorism, romanticization of gangs and murder, instructions for violence, graphic shock scenes in videos. Extra attention needed for genres with aggressive imagery: drill, metal, horrorcore, trap.

5. Drugs, Alcohol, Dangerous Behavior Drug promotion, romanticization of substance use, dangerous challenges. A mention of a party is not a problem. A track built around a drug-lifestyle aesthetic is.

6. Sexual Content Explicit sexual content, visual nudity, eroticized choreography in videos, provocative poses on cover art, suggestive titles. The risk exists not only in words but in sounds, intonation, and editing choices. Special category: sexualization of minors — zero tolerance.

7. Suicide, Self-Harm, Harm to Minors Romanticization of suicide and depression as an attractive state, dangerous challenges, depicting minors in contexts involving alcohol, drugs, or violence. The theme of pain is not prohibited in itself — the framing matters.

8. Discrimination, Vulgarity, Disinformation Hate speech based on national, racial, or religious grounds; excessive vulgarity; deepfakes and AI imitation of real people without disclosure; content that could be perceived as fake news.

Specific Risk Areas

Lyric translation. A literal translation can make a text cruder, politically sharper, or more sexually explicit than the original. Translation needs to be reviewed not just linguistically but for meaning — especially geographic references and slang.

Track title. It is reviewed before the release itself — visible in search and recommendations. A neutral Chinese title, where required, must be verified for meaning and not machine-translated automatically.

AI-generated content. Artistic use of AI is not inherently prohibited. But impersonating a real person, deepfake video, cloning a celebrity's voice, or synthetic content without transparent disclosure carries significantly higher risk.

What to Do When a Release Contains Risky Elements

Three options:

China-safe version — replace the cover art, prepare clean lyrics, adapt the translation, remove problematic scenes from the video, use a neutral bio.

Exclude China from distribution — if the release is built around a political statement, explicit aesthetic, or hard visual content and adaptation would change its essence.

Explanatory note — if the risk comes from potential misreading of the content rather than the content itself. A note reduces risk but does not guarantee passing moderation.

Minimum Checklist Before Submission

Audio: no sounds simulating violence, sexual acts, or dangerous instructions. Clean version available if needed.

Lyrics: reviewed for politics, religion, sex, drugs, violence, discrimination, and double meanings. No romanticization of self-harm, terrorism, or crime.

Translation: does not amplify problematic meanings; geographic terms translated carefully.

Title: neutral, not misleading, free of sensitive language.

Cover art: no political symbols, shock content, sexualization, blood, weapons, or third-party likenesses used without permission.

Video: no political scenes, violence, drugs, misleading AI, or undisclosed deepfakes.

Metadata and bio: neutral, factually accurate, free of political statements and sensitive geographic references.

Bottom Line

Before submitting to China — three questions:

Is the track safe in terms of its lyrics and audio content? Are all visual and promotional materials safe? Do the translation, title, cover art, or bio introduce any additional risk?

If any one of these raises doubt — additional review, adaptation, or exclusion from Chinese distribution.