Don’t Mess With The Dragon: China Detains Pop-star For Disrespecting National Anthem on Live Stream

Yang Kaili, a Chinese Internet celebrity, has been detained for five days by the Chinese authorities for insulting the national anthem of the country, The New Indian Express has reported.

Yang Kaili, 20-year old Internet star, has been detained for five days for flailing her arms around while singing the national anthem on camera. Also known as Li Ge, she is quite popular in China with a follower count that runs in tens of millions.

A statement by the Shanghai Police Department on Saturday (13 October) said that Yang had violated the national anthem law of China.

"The national anthem is a symbol of the country, all citizens should respect [it] and safeguard [its] dignity," the statement said.

Chinese national anthem law came into force last year and under it any person who sings the national anthem in a ‘distorted and disrespectful way’ can be detained for up to 15 days.

Huya, the live streaming platform on which Yang had her channel, took down the video and banned Yang’s channel.

"Huya has decided to ban her channel. We are committed to spreading positive energy and... safeguarding the dignity of the national anthem." said the statement.

Yang has since publicly apologised for her behaviour on Weibo, a twitter like Chinese social media website. "I sincerely apologise for the fact that I did not sing the anthem seriously. The anthem is sacred and my behaviour hurt everyone's feelings," she said.

The detention has drawn huge response in the Chinese social media with some criticising it as unduly harsh while others lauding the uniform application of law even on celebrities.