BEIJING: A social media ban on a stand-up comic for joking about marriage has triggered an online backlash in China.
Authorities said the Weibo account of Uygur stand-up comedian Xiao Pa was suspended as part of a cyberspace clean-up campaign during the Chinese New Year.
Xiao Pa, whose real name is Paziliyaer Paerhati, was banned from posting online, a verified Weibo community manager posted on Friday (Feb 27).
“Xiao Pa had posted information that stirred up gender conflicts and created anxiety over marriage and childbirth … and was banned,” the post read.
“We call on users to not intentionally associate gender topics when discussing public affairs, not create hate towards certain groups and avoid cultivating a confrontational and divisive public image.”
The manager cited demands of an internet clean-up campaign from the regulatory watchdog, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC).
The notice, issued days before the Chinese New Year, ordered that action be taken against accounts that “maliciously incite negative emotions”.
Examples included “promoting unhealthy values such as refusing marriage and childbearing, advocating anti-marriage and anti-natalist ideas, stirring up conflicts between men and women, exaggerating fears about marriage, and increasing anxiety about fertility”.
In the comments section of the ban announcement, the Weibo manager shared a screenshot of the post that got Xiao Pa punished.
In early February, she wrote: “I was down with fever for two days, and I thought if I had a husband and children, I would have to lean against the wall to prop myself up and cook for them.”
The CAC launched its month-long official clean-up campaign on February 12, saying the aim was to “create a joyful, peaceful, and positive online atmosphere during the Chinese New Year holiday period”.
Besides “inciting negative information”, the campaign also aims to crack down accounts that use artificial intelligence or other new technology to generate “digital garbage”, fabricated information, or direct online traffic to illegal activities such as online gambling and pornography.
Xiao Pa began performing stand-up comedy full-time in 2020. In recent years, she became well-known for taking part in the online comedy show Rock and Roast. She said she drew inspiration from her family life, especially her much-married father, who had “brought misery” into her life.
“When I go out with my dad, if he suddenly turns around for no reason, I know he has run into his ex-wife. If he suddenly tells me to get lost, I know that he had spotted a potential future wife,” she said once during a live performance.
In another joke, she said her father promised her a younger brother so that he could protect her if her future husband ever hit her.
“In that moment, I understood one thing: there may not always be a man in this world who loves me, but there will definitely be a man who hits me,” she said.
The ban on Xiao Pa has sparked fierce debate online, with many saying that her views are far from radical and that she had “merely spoken the truth”.
This reflects broader attitudes among Chinese youth. Many young women in China now view marriage as a personal choice rather than a social obligation, questioning traditional expectations while prioritising independence and career.
“Anyone who has a mother would see at some point that their mother needs to cook when they are tired or sick, complaining about the bitterness of life,” one commenter said.
Another wrote: “A not-so-well-known comedian dishes about life, and that’s creating anxiety and fear? That makes me laugh.”
The controversy comes amid growing concern in China over declining marriage and birth rates. Authorities have been offering cash incentives and rolling out propaganda campaigns in an attempt to reverse the downward trend.
China recorded just 7.92 million births in 2025 – officials said in January – a 17 per cent drop from 2024 and the lowest figure since records began in 1949.
Recent propaganda campaigns have sought to boost confidence in marriage and family life, urging people to marry without dowry, hold “civilised weddings” without extravagance, and instil traditional family values in the younger generation. - South China Morning Post
